The medals ofgoldofsilver and of bronze from the Olympic Games And Paralympics reward the champions of the different disciplines for each edition and represent for them the highest goal that can be achieved. For the Olympic Games of Paris 2024 The medals have a slightly different design than usual and feature a unique feature. In addition to the classic precious metals that denote the winners’ podium, these medals feature a plaque embedded which is made with the iron from the Eiffel Tower. Let’s see where the iron needed to make them was taken from and how much they are worth.
How the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic medals are made
Olympic medals must have a diameter of 8.5 centimeters and a thickness of 9.2mm. The main elements of the design are a hexagon (reminiscent of the shape of France) set in a sunburst. The design of the medals was created by the French fashion house Chaumeta company of the LVMH Group. The 5084 medals are produced by Paris Monadiethe State Mint, the same institution that produced the medals of the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896.
I am 20 years that the medals follow theiconography traditional, established by Elena Votsi’s design for the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. Since then we (almost) always find the same symbol on the medal: NikeGreek goddess of victory, emerging from the Panathenaic Stadium, the place where the games were held in ancient Greece. For this edition, however, theimage has been repurposed and the was added Eiffel Tower on the other side of the stadium.
For the medals Paralympic this side of the coin is different. Rather than representing the goddess Nike, we find the Eiffel Tower depicted from an unusual point of view, that is, from Bass. On this same side we also find the writing “Paris 2024” embossed in alphabet Braillefor the blind. Instead, to allow all athletes to distinguish the value of the medal, on edge Paralympic medals are engraved with dashes: I for gold, II for silver and III for bronze.
The other side of the coin is shared by Olympic and Paralympic athletes and features a unique feature. It depicts a ray irregular with a slightly conical shape. The rays are not engraved but in relief, so as to create irregular plays of light and make the medal shine more. These rays lead to a plaque in non-noble metal set in the center of the medal. The plaque, in the shape hexagonal – the shape of France on a map – is made with 18 grams of Eiffel Tower ironBut where were these plaques taken from?
In practice, in the 20th century, work was done on the Tower’s elevators to make it more accessible. During this maintenance, some parts of the Tower were removed And preserved. That’s why there was some iron from the tower available and the Société d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel allowed it to be used specifically for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The plaque is set in the centre of the medal like a precious gemIt is fixed by means of a decoration with small pyramid-shaped protrusions called “Clous de Paris” and which recalls the rivets of the Eiffel Tower. It must be said, however, that the iron used to make the hexagon was melted down and reformed.
The medals then have a groove to insert the tape on the top. The ribbons also recall the Eiffel Tower because the motif printed on them depicts the lattice of the Tower. The ribbon for the medals of Olympic athletes is blue, while the ribbon for Paralympic athletes is red.
How the 2024 Olympic Games medals are produced
The technology used for their production is the coinage. It is a method of material deformation that Not requires mergers of the metal. The desired geometry is achieved thanks to a punch which presses on the material and changes its shape. So, in the case of medals, the shape in negative is made on the punchso that this can then be imprinted on one side of the coin.
The same manufacturing method is also used to produce the coins. It is no coincidence that the medals are produced by the Monnaie de Paris, the National State Mint. The minting does not take place all at once but can take place in several passagesuntil the desired shape is imprinted. Among the various steps, the producers declare that the medals are heated to approximately 480°C and immersed in several acid baths.
It takes about 15 days to produce a medal, not so much for the minting process which occurs quickly, but for the surface treatment. The mould is in fact carefully polished by the operator to ensure that the medal has a finish shiny and bright. But all this time is also needed to prepare the material, which hides some secrets.
In the case of gold medals, the process of surface platingbecause in reality the gold medals are made of silver and are only gold plated. The silver ones on the other hand are really in silver and the bronze ones are really in bronze.
The last step is the one needed to set the iron plate on the medal, and this also happens through a press which imprints it on the medal thanks to its weight of 400 tons. This iron was produced in the forges of the city of Pompey, in Lorraine, in eastern France through the “pudding” process, whereby the pig iron produced by the reduction of iron ore is refined by removing excess carbon.
Finally, the manufacturing company inserts the ribbon into the medal, using the groove created inside it, so that the insertion point remains hidden and the ribbon appears the same on both sides. A machine has been programmed specifically to insert the fabric into this groove.
How much are Olympic medals worth?
Considering the average price of precious metals in July 2024 and the weights of the individual medals established by the International Olympic Committee (without considering the iron plate), we can estimate the cost of the material of gold and silver medals:
- Gold Medal: With an estimated 505g of silver and 6g of gold plating, it would cost around €840;
- Silver medal: with an estimated 507g of silver, it would cost around €420.
For the bronze medal, however, since the material is a non-precious alloy, we can say that the economic value is marginal; only the symbolic value of the prize remains. They seem numbers lowright? In fact, the winners also receive a cash prize, not from the International Olympic Committee but from the various countries they belong to, as a reward for their performance, or from private sponsors. In Italy, CONI this year rewards the Italians with 180,000 euros (gross) for a gold, 90,000 for a silver and 45,000 for a bronze.
