Paris Olympics Medals 2024: What they are made of, design, and how much gold, silver and bronze they contain

The medals set to be presented to successful athletes at the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics in Paris. | Paris Olympics 2024

Every Olympic Games has its own distinctive never-to-be-reproduced medal, and the Paris 2024 organisers have really pulled out all the stops to make their’s extra-special.

The design team have come up with an prize that has unique design features, including a piece of arguably France’s most famous landmark - the Eiffel Tower.

Here’s everything you need to know about the circles of metal that everybody want to win.

Who designed the France 2024 medals?

Paris 2024 called on LVMH jeweler Chaumet to design its medals. LVMH is the name of the global luxury goods company that was formed after the merger of the better-known companies Moët Hennessy and Louis Vuitton.

How has the Eiffel Tower been incorporated into the medals?

All the medals won by both Olympic and Paralympic athletes will include a hexagonal piece of metal taken from the Eiffel Tower itself - created from parts removed during redevelopment and renovation projects.

The organisers explain: “The original Eiffel Tower iron is formed in a hexagon — the geometrical shape of France herself. This symbol is a reminder of the whole nation’s engagement in delivering an historic Olympic and Paralympic Games. Stripped of its “Eiffel Tower brown” paint, the iron is returned to its original colour. Placed in the centreand imprinted with the emblem of the Paris 2024 Games, this piece of heritage fits perfectly within the gold, silver and bronze core of the medal.”

Are the Paris 2024 medals solid gold?

Unfortunately for the winners, the gold medals are not made of solid gold, but rather a sterling silver core with gold plating - meaning they only contain around 6g of the precious metal..

Both the silver medals and the bronze medals, however, are made of the respective solid metals.

Gold medals were not always the standard first prize – in the 1896 Olympics, the winner of the games won a silver medal which was at that time more valuable than gold.

The now-traditional trio of precious metal medals was introduced for the first time at the 1908 London Olympics.

The last solid gold medals were used at the 1912 Stockholm Olympic Games.

What has inspired the design of the Paris 2024 medals?

The hexagon made from metal taken from the Eiffel Tower incorporates the Olympic Flame and Olympic Rings and is set in place using a setting designed to look like the rivets in the tower. Eiffel Tower rivets. The rest of this side of the medal sees embossed fine lines project outwards at regular intervals from around the iron hexagon. These lines “bring relief and sparkle to a medal that is far from being smooth. This creative concept embodies both the radiance of France in the world and the shining performances of the athletes at the Games.”

The other side of the Olympic medals sees “the goddess of victory Athena Nike emerging from the Panathenaic Stadium that witnessed the revival of the Olympic Games in 1896. The Acropolis of Athens, another compulsory feature of the Olympic medals, is joined by the Eiffel Tower for the first time in the Paris 2024 design. In this way, the inspiration of the ancient Games in Greece, the French origins of the modern Olympic Games and their next edition in Paris are all represented.”

How do the Paralympic Games medals differ from that of the Olympics?

The Paralympics share the design incorporating the hexagonal sections made with metal taken from the Eiffel Tower.

The other side of the Paralympics medals are different from the Olympic versions. Instead of the Athena Nike design they feature: “A graphic representation of the Eiffel Tower from an upward perspective will give medalists the chance to discover the Eiffel Tower from a rarely seen angle. The words “Paris” and “2024” surround the feet of the tower written in universal Braille, the symbolic language of accessibility and a reference to its French inventor, Louis Braille. To enable athletes with visual impairments to feel the difference between the medals, dashes are engraved on the edge: I for gold, II for silver and III for bronze.”

A total of 5,084 medals have been produced for the Games.