This summer, all eyes have focused on the world’s top athletes competing in Paris at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. In typical Parisian fashion, this year’s Olympiad showcases no shortage of style and elegance, including the games’ medals.
Designed by Chaumet (a heritage brand with a pedigree in making tiaras for royalty) and created by the Monnaie de Paris, each of the 5,084 medals share a common characteristic: a priceless piece of the Eiffel Tower. Each medal is inspired by the iconic Paris landmark and adorned with original puddle metal from the Eiffel Tower, taken during its renovations—a donation from the Société d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel.
This piece of donated metal has been stripped of its “Eiffel Tower brown” paint to reveal its original colour, and cut into a hexagon (a nod to France’s nickname, l’hexagone). This hexagon is the medal’s centrepiece and embossed with the Olympic Games Paris 2024 emblem. Six metal appendages are stamped at the surface and placed at the six corners of the hexagon to enclose the iron against the medal, a technique traditionally used by the House of Chaumet to secure precious gemstones. This setting evokes the ‘Clous de Paris’ hobnail motif found in fine jewellery. It also resembles the Eiffel Tower’s rivet pattern.
Radiance is another theme reflected (quite literally) in the new medals. Embossed lines that emulate rays of sunshine project out from the centre, surrounding the iron. While the Eiffel Tower served as the main muse in the medals’ design, Chaumet also drew inspiration from its history of creating jewel-encrusted tiaras.
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The Olympic and Paralympic medals are identical on the front, they have different backs. The former will feature the goddess of victory, Nike, depicted carrying an Olympic torch. The Paralympic medals will feature an under-view of the Eiffel Tower, which makes another appearance on the ribbon of both medals. By bringing two sides of the ribbon together, the lines formed to offer a glimpse of the famous monument.
All medals are engraved with the name of the sport, discipline, and medalist. These inscriptions will be written in French on the Olympic medals and in English on the Paralympic medals, the official languages of the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee. Of course, those who find their name on a medal will leave the Games with a physical piece of Paris that’ll keep shining bright long after the Closing Ceremonies—just like the City of Lights, itself.
