The medals for the upcoming 2024 Olympic Games in Paris were designed by the luxury jewelry house Chaumet and include original pieces of iron from the Eiffel Tower.
The Eiffel Tower, one of the most recognizable monuments in the world, was conceived as the entrance to the 1889 World’s Fair in Paris by the bridge engineer Gustave Eiffel at the centenary of the French Revolution. It is considered a design marvel, once the tallest structure in the world, and constructed in just two years.
But the tower was never meant to last, and it has undergone extensive repairs over the years, with some of the original iron cut off and preserved over time. Now, the Eiffel Tower Operating Company is allowing pieces to be used as France celebrates hosting the summer games for the first time in 100 years.
The medals were unveiled on the website for the upcoming games, which discusses the meaning and symbolism of the designs as well as the design of the ribbons for the medals.
The iron from the tower has been tempered into a hexagon, a geometrical shape significant to France. It has been stripped of its “Eiffel Tower brown” paint and the returned to its original color. The center of the iron has been stamped with the logo of the Paris 2024 Games.
The metal piece is secured in the larger medal with rivets intentionally resembling those used on the Eiffel Tower. Fine embossed lines project outward from the hexagon, giving the medal dimension.
Chaumet was tasked with designing the medals and the Paris 2024 organizers lauded the company as “globally renowned for its craftsmanship,” celebrating how the firm turned the medal into a “veritable jewel.”
The Olympic and Paralympic medals are identical on the front, the side with the Eiffel Tower iron. But the back designs will differ: the Paralympic Games medals will be anchored by the logo for the competition with an under-view of the Eiffel Tower, while the Olympic Games medals will feature Nike, the goddess of victory, carrying the Olympic torch.
Chaumet parent company Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton touted the jewelry studio as the first in history to have the honor of designing the medals.
“With striking creativity and innovation, Chaumet has reinvented the most coveted of all awards for elite athletes,” LVMH said in a news release. “The medal design is both confident and bold, perfectly matched to the sporting feats of the athletes.”
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