Paris 2024 Olympic Games: discover the design of the Olympic medals, unveiled this Thursday, February 8 in Saint-Denis

Médaille avec une partie centrale en forme d'hexagone et avec un morceau de métal d'origine de la Tour Eiffel. Paris 2024

Réalisées par la maison Chaumet,  joaillerie du groupe LVMH, les 5084 médailles des Jeux Olympiques et Paralympiques rendent un hommage vibrant au plus emblématique monument de France.

The organizing committee unveiled this Thursday, February 8, in Saint-Denis, the look of the medals for the Paris Olympic Games which will begin on July 26. To imagine this symbol of the Games, Paris 2024 relied on the expertise of Chaumet, jewelry house of the LVMH group, partner of the Games, and its artisans with a design imagined around three inspirations : the hexagon, the radiation and the setting.

"We wanted these medals to reflect French excellence and for this to meet another very strong symbol of our country, the Eiffel Tower. She had to be from Paris,explained Tony Estanguet, president of the Organizing Committee and three-time Olympic canoe-kayak champion.

An original piece of the Eiffel Tower

The medals will therefore all incorporate a piece of the original metal from 1889 of the Eiffel Tower, the profile of which is very present on these works of art. A particular iron, called « puddled », manufactured at the time in the forges and blast furnaces of Pompey in Lorraine.

During the 20th century, the structure of the Eiffel Tower having been the subject of renovation campaigns, certain metal elements were permanently removed from the Iron Lady and carefully preserved. They find a second life in these round medals, inlaid to recall the famous beams of the Tower with a central part in the shape of a hexagon to evoke France. of his painting « brown Eiffel Tower », the puddled iron is found in its original color.

The hexagon is linked to the medal by a setting « label », traditionally used by Maison Chaumet for its high jewelry pieces. "It's not a medal but a work of art sublimating the Olympic spirit and celebrating the French cultural heritage"< /em>, welcomed Antoine Arnault, president of Image & LVMH environment.