Olympic athletes fortunate enough to earn a medal at this year’s Paris Olympic Games will also go home with a small piece of the city’s most famous landmark—the Eiffel Tower.
Inlaid in every bronze, silver, and gold medal given to winners at the Paris Games and Paralympics will be a hexagonal piece of polished iron taken directly from the tower itself.
The 1,083-foot tall tower, which was built for the 1889 World’s Fair, was meant to stand for only 20 years; however, the monument has since gone on to become the iconic symbol of the City of Light. The tower requires frequent renovation and care to keep the structure standing over the years. The iron pieces found in the Olympic medals, each weighing in at 18 grams, are taken from iron girders and other pieces of the tower that have been swapped out during these renovations and have been stored for safekeeping, according to Joachim Roncin, head of design of the Paris Games organizing committee.
“The concept came after a few discussions. We realized that there’s one symbol known across the world, which is the Eiffel Tower,” Roncin told the Associated Press. “We said to ourselves, ‘Hey, what if we approached the Eiffel Tower Operating Co. to see if it’s possible to get a bit of the Eiffel Tower to integrate into the medal?’”
Each piece was stripped of paint, then polished and varnished for use in the medals. Each is stamped with “Paris 2024” along with the Games logo and five Olympic rings. The Paralympic logo—three swooshes, known as the Agitos, is stamped on the Paralympic medals. The hexagonal form of the iron pieces represents France itself, which the French sometimes refer to as “L’Hexagone” due to its shape.
The medals were designed by Paris jewelry house Chaumet and feature six small clasps that hold the iron pieces in the medals, representing the 2.5 million rivets that hold the Eiffel Tower together.
“Having a gold medal is already something incredible. But we wanted to add this French touch and we thought that the Eiffel Tower would be this cherry on the top,” Roncin said.
Nike, the ancient Greek goddess of victory, has been depicted on the other side of Olympic medals since 1928, while the Paris medals will also feature a small image of the Eiffel Tower on the same side, in a break with tradition.
For the opposite side of the Paralympic medals, a view of the tower from below is shown. “Paris 2024” will be written in Braille, and the edges will have notches: one for gold, two for silver, and three for bronze.
The Paris Mint is producing 5,084 medals, approximately 2,600 for the Olympics and 2,400 for the Paralympics. The medals will be delivered in a dark-blue box from Chaumet, accompanied by a certificate from the Eiffel Tower Operating Company confirming the use of iron pieces from the monument.
P.S. The Paris Games organizers have not disclosed the monetary value of the medals, so you should hold off on nabbing any extras you find lying around.
Laura Ratliff is a New York City-based writer, editor, and runner. Laura's writing expertise spans numerous topics, ranging from travel and food and drink to reported pieces covering political and human rights issues. She has previously worked at Architectural Digest, Bloomberg News, and Condé Nast Traveler Health - Injuries TripSavvy. Like many of us, Laura was bitten by the running bug later in life, after years of claiming to "hate running." Her favorite marathon is Big Sur.
