When Chaumet set out to design the medals for the 2024 Olympics, they faced the challenge of encapsulating the grandeur of Paris while honoring the athletes’ sacrifices. The iconic jeweler, known for its association with Napoleon Bonaparte, ingeniously incorporated a fragment of steel from the Eiffel Tower to achieve both objectives.
So it was really Paris 2024 who contacted the Eiffel Tower company to find out if it was possible to have pieces of the Eiffel Tower when the Eiffel Tower was being restored and to be able to cut these hexagons from it, and placed on the medal. »
Announced on Thursday by the organizers, the medals for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris will each contain an 18-gram fragment of the original 1889 Eiffel Tower. More than 5,000 of these medals, to be distributed during the Games starting on July 26, will embedded the fragment of the city’s most visited monument and one of the nation’s symbols.
According to Tony Estanguet, the goal was to find « something that symbolizes the effort of the athletes, but also something that is a jewel, » hence the collaboration with Chaumet, one of the world’s most renowned jewelers, located in the luxurious Place Vendôme.
Athletes also played a role in the conception through the commission led by former Olympic medalist Martin Fourcade, the French athlete with the most accolades in his career, who stated that « nothing is more symbolic than taking a piece of French heritage. »
On the reverse side, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) mandates the depiction of the goddess Athena emerging from the Panathenaic Stadium in the Greek capital, as a link to the ancient Games. However, Paris has been granted permission to include a drawing of the Eiffel Tower on that side as well, in homage to Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the father of the modern Olympic Games.
For the Paralympic Games, which will also feature a fragment of the Eiffel Tower, the view of the monument is from below, and the inscriptions are in braille, the language for the visually impaired created by the Frenchman Louis Braille in 1825.
With this initiative, Paris 2024 continues its ambition to create « Games that leave a mark, » as stated by Estanguet, the originator of ideas such as holding the opening ceremony on the waters of the Seine or hosting certain sports at landmarks in the capital, such as the Eiffel Tower, the Grand Palais, or the Place de la Concorde.
So it was last night that the presentation of the Paris 2024 Olympic medals was celebrated in the salons of Maison Chaumet, where several personalities were present, including Miss France 2024 and many athletes en route to the Olympic Games. Antoine Arnault, who personally invests in the success of the missions entrusted by Paris 2024 to the various luxury houses of the LVMH group, presided over this presentation.
