PARIS, February 8. /TASS/. Organizers of the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris unveiled on Thursday a concept for the competition medals that contain a piece of Eiffel Tower, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said in a statement on Thursday.
"In a few short months, the next Olympic Games will begin and the athletes now know the reward they will receive if they make it onto the podium," the statement reads.
"On Thursday 8 February, the Olympic and Paralympic medals were unveiled. And, whether they are gold, silver or bronze, they will all contain a very special piece of metal that was once part of the Eiffel Tower," the IOC continued.
"In keeping with tradition, the medals are gold, silver and bronze," according to the IOC. "However, unlike any of the approximately 36,600 medals that have been awarded since Athens 1896, the first modern Olympic Games, these will each be adorned with a small piece of Paris and a symbol of the country of France: the Eiffel Tower."
"There was a huge amount done to try to bring together these precious metals - gold, silver and bronze - with the most precious metal in the Eiffel Tower, the jewel in the French crown. So what’s specific about the 2024 medals is that meshing together, that fusion, that alloy…"
"What’s impactful for this year will be having a part of the original Eiffel Tower metal, the iron, in these various medals, and so this is what we wanted to do, to infuse all these 2024 athletes with that metal," the IOC statement added.
Paris, known as the "City of Light," is scheduled to host the 2024 Summer Olympic Games between July 26 and August 11, 2024.