PARIS.- A medal of the Olympic Games embedded with a fragment of the Eiffel Tower. Can a more monumental award be conferred?
The hexagonal fragment taken from the iconic monument will be engraved on each gold, silver and bronze medal that will be hung on the necks of the athletes in the Paris Olympic Games that will be held between July 26 and August 11 and the Paralympic Games that they will follow later.
The organizers of the jousts revealed the revolutionary design on Thursday.
Simone Biles collected seven medals in her two previous Olympic Games, LeBron James captured two golds and bronze from London, Beijing and Athens and Yulimar Rojas treasures his gold from Tokyo and a silver in Rio de Janeiro. But none of them, who have the Paris event in their sights, as well as the approximately 36,000 other medalists in the 29 previous summer events, dating back to 1896, have collected medals like this one.
As they taste glory at the Games, medalists from Paris will also take home a bite of the city and its history.
Real fragments of the Eiffel Tower?
Undoubtedly. The 330-meter (1,083-foot) tower was erected with 18,038 pieces of iron. But it has remained a bit long at his feet. Built for the 1889 World’s Fair — which celebrated the centenary of the French Revolution — engineer Gustave Eiffel’s colossus was made to last 20 years.
But it endured, thanks to regular renovations and restorations. The 135-year-old tower is a veteran of two previous Olympic Games — those of 1900 and 1924, the last held in Paris.
The fragments embedded in the center of the Olympic medals weigh 18 grams.
They were cut from beams and other pieces removed from the Eiffel Tower during renovations and stored for safekeeping, said Joachim Roncin, the design director of the Paris 2024 organizing committee.
“The concept was conceived after some conversations. We realized that there is a universal symbol and it is the Eiffel Tower,” said Roncin. “So we agreed to talk to the company that operates the Eiffel Tower to ask them something: ‘How about a piece of the Eiffel Tower to embed in the medal ?’”
The company said yes and the dream came true,” Roncin said. “It really is a piece of metal from the Eiffel Tower.”
FOUNTAIN: AP
