The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games are finally here! On Thursday, February 8, a key element of these Games was unveiled: the visual of the medals that athletes will win this summer. And they have an exceptional feature, asthey contain a piece of the Eiffel Tower!"Treated like a jewel" by the Chaumet fashion house, this medal features an original piece of the Iron Lady dating from 1889, set like a precious stone.
Paris 2024 wanted to"create the best of France" with these medals, as Tony Estanguet put it, by bringing together the metal of the medals, whether gold, silver or bronze, with the iron one of the Eiffel Tower. Martin Fourcade, who took part in the medal's creation, explained the decoration of these medals in detail, struck by the Monnaie de Paris. The front is similar for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, with polished gold, a reference to the City of Light, which reflects the light to make the capital shine.
It features a hexagonal-shaped piece of the Eiffel Tower. On the back, the Olympic medals feature references to ancient Greece, with the Parthenon on the left, the goddess Niké, the goddess of victory, in the center, and the Eiffel Tower on the right. For the Paralympic medal, the Iron Lady is again in the spotlight, with a view of the underside featuring the words "Paris 2024" written in Braille.
The medal is intended to be"timeless", bringing the ancient Games closer to the modern Games, a century after the last Games in Paris! All that's left for the French athletes to do is keep these pieces of the Eiffel Tower at home!
