Olympic medals: part history, part Eiffel Tower

The medal is "consecration for an athlete", acknowledges Tony Estanguet, President of Paris 2024 and himself the holder of three Olympic gold medals (in slalom canoeing). Each Olympiad has its own personalized medals. "The ones in Paris had to be as beautiful as possible and carry a strong message. In short, it wasn't enough for them to just be gold, silver or bronze. They had to be from Paris".

That's how the Eiffel Tower came to be part of these new medals! As luck would have it, the Société d'exploitation de la tour Eiffel had kept a large piece of the monument from one of its renovations. 18 grams of this piece have been stripped, treated, varnished and then placed on each of the 5,084 medals.

"This medal is of historical significance, and a tribute to Pierre de Coubertin, who, as a contemporary of Gustave Eiffel, was one of the last people to visit the Tower's construction site before it opened", explained Jean-François Martins, President of the Société d'exploitation de la tour Eiffel.

Beyond this piece of history, the medals, designed by jeweler Chaumet with assistance from the Paris 2024 Athletes' Commission, and manufactured by the Monnaie de Paris, meet precise specifications: 85 mm in diameter; 9.2 mm thick, 529 g for gold, 525 g for silver and 455 g for bronze; it also had to meet traditional symbolic parameters.

One side features the Acropolis and Athena, Greek goddess of victory, as well as the Olympic rings and the name of the organizing committee. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) also authorized Paris 2024 to engrave the Eiffel Tower on to the medals. The inspiration for the ancient Greek games, the French origins of the modern Olympic Games and the 2024 Games are all symbolized.

On the other side, the puddled iron piece of the tower in its original color and in the shape of a hexagon, recalling France, is placed in the center of the medal. The flame, Paris 2024 Games emblem and the Olympics rings are also engraved. This hexagon is set on asymmetrical spokes, a radiance that refers to the City of Light. "This medal is a jewel: the Eiffel Tower is like a precious stone," says Chaumet.

For the Paralympic Games, the design was freer. But as with the torches and mascots, which share a common look and design, the Olympic and Paralympic medals share a side with the same design, the one set with a piece of the Iron Lady.

Paris 2024 chose to engrave the second side with a graphic image of the Eiffel Tower from an different angle, seen from below. The words "Paris" and "2024" frame the tower's stacks and are inscribed in universal Braille, in reference to its French inventor, Louis Braille.

All Olympic and Paralympic medals are also with the name of each medalist's sport, discipline and event. These inscriptions are found in French on Olympic medals and in English on Paralympic medals, the official languages of the IOC and the International Paralympic Committee.

The Eiffel Tower also inspired the unique design of the ribbon which athletes will proudly wear. The ribbon is embellished with the tower's latticework by bringing the pieces of ribbon together, the line even hints at the shape of the famous monument. The sober blue of the Olympic ribbon is matched by the deep red of the Paralympic ribbon, a blend of the Eiffel Tower's first two colors, Venice red and red brown.

Get all the news on disruptions and opportunities related to the Games with the Paris Infos Jeux 2024 newsletter.