Paris 2024 Olympic Games medals to be encrusted with Eiffel Tower pieces – ‘An unforgettable memory’

The medals for the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games have been revealed – and they have a very unique twist.

To celebrate the Paris games, all medals that are handed out will be encrusted with pieces of the Eiffel Tower.

The Olympic Games will take place between July 26 and August 11, while the Paralympic Games will take place between August 28 and September 8.

Every one of the medals will include an 18-gram hexagonal piece of iron from the Tower in the middle.

The pieces were removed during renovations in the 20th century and have now been marked with the Olympic logo for the games.

“By placing fragments of the Eiffel Tower at the center of its medals, Paris 2024 hopes to leave athletes with an unforgettable memory of the Games, of Paris and of France,” a statement from the Paris 2024 team said.

“For the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024, the Société d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel is giving these veritable pieces of the history of Paris and France a second lease of life.”

The medals themselves are around 8cm in diameter and weigh around 500 grams. Over 5000 medals will be awarded during the Olympic and Paralympic games.

The hexagonal shape in the middle is also a reference to the country of France as a whole as well as the Tower, which will play a prominent role during the games.

The jewellers also had the idea of tracing rays all around the hexagon. This irregular faceting attracts the light and generates a kind of radiance.

“The light catches this facetwork, creating a great deal of movement. Paris is the City of Light. The object had to radiate and reflect the athlete’s efforts,” explains Benoît Verhulle, head of the Chaumet workshop who designed the medals.