Winning an Olympic medal is a dream cherished by every athlete. At the Paris Olympics, medal winners will not only achieve personal glory but also carry home a piece of France’s national pride, the Eiffel Tower.
Since the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896, around 36,600 medals have been awarded. The Paris 2024 Olympics mark the first instance of a host city incorporating parts of a national monument into the medals.
These medals encapsulate the essence of the Games, the rich heritage of France, and the pinnacle of athletic achievement. The Paris 2024 Olympic medals are a true testament to excellence.
Both Olympic and Paralympic medals contain a piece of iron from the Eiffel Tower, retrieved during a recent renovation. The iron, shaped to represent France’s hexagonal form, is placed at the center of the medal and adorned with the Paris 2024 Games’ symbol.
Each medal is inscribed with the name of the sport, the discipline, and the event along its edge. The inscriptions are in French on the Olympic medals and in English on the Paralympic medals, reflecting the official languages of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
The reverse side of the Olympic medal narrates the story of the Games’ revival in Greece. It features a design by Elena Votsi for the Athens 2004 Olympics, depicting the goddess of victory, Athena Nike, emerging from the Panathenaic Stadium, the site of the 1896 rebirth of the Olympic Games. This design also includes the Acropolis of Athens, a required element on Olympic medals, and for the first time, it is accompanied by the Eiffel Tower in the Paris 2024 design.
The reverse side of the Paralympic medals presents a graphic depiction of the Eiffel Tower from an upward perspective, offering a unique view of the iconic monument. At the base of the tower are the words “Paris” and “2024” in Braille, honoring the French inventor Louis Braille.