Do You Know the Taste of Medals? It Tastes Like the Eiffel Tower [Paris Olympics]

IOC gold content regulation compliance with 6g usage
Medal jewelry brand Chaumet design attention
Gold medal 529g including Eiffel Tower iron piece (18g)

Athletes who finish first at the Olympics receive gold medals. When they step onto the podium and hang the gold medal around their neck, it shines brightly. However, there were no gold medals at the first Olympics in 1896. Winners were awarded silver medals and olive wreaths. So, how much gold is actually in the Paris Olympic gold medal? The answer is 6g. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) official gold medal production guidelines set the minimum gold content at 6g. One don is 3.75g. The Paris Olympic gold medal contains less than two don of gold. For reference, the current price of one don of gold is at an all-time high of around 409,500 KRW.

The Paris Olympic medals feature the Eiffel Tower, a symbol of Paris and France. [Paris=AP·Yonhap News]

The Paris Olympic Organizing Committee created a very special medal. It was designed by CHAUMET, a jewelry brand of the French LVMH group. On the front of the medal, in accordance with IOC regulations, there is a relief of the goddess of victory, Nike. It depicts Nike flying over the Panathenaic Stadium in Greece. Above Nike’s head is the Olympic rings, along with the official name of this event (JEUX DE LA XXXIII OLYMPIADE·PARIS 2024).

While adhering to IOC regulations, the Paris Olympic Organizing Committee engraved the Eiffel Tower, a symbol of Paris, on the right side of the medal. Additionally, a hexagonal piece of iron symbolizing France, taken from the Eiffel Tower, was attached to the center of the back of the medal. Since its construction in 1889, the Eiffel Tower has undergone many repairs. The iron piece was removed and preserved by the Eiffel Tower Operating Association during maintenance and restoration. For the production of these medals, the organizing committee received about 91 kg of iron pieces from the Eiffel Tower. This was done with the hope that athletes receiving the medals would carry a symbol of Paris, France.

The medals for the Paris Olympics were designed by Chaumet, the jewelry brand of the French LVMH group.
[Photo by Paris Olympic Organizing Committee]

The iron from the Eiffel Tower is hexagonal in shape. Looking at a map, France appears hexagonal. For this reason, the word L'Hexagone is sometimes used as a nickname for France. In other words, iron taken from the Eiffel Tower, symbolizing Paris, was shaped into a hexagon representing France and embedded into the medal. The brown paint on the Eiffel Tower iron was stripped off, revealing the original metal color, which was then inlaid into the medal. The weight of the Paris Olympic medals is 529g for gold (including 6g of gold and 18g of Eiffel Tower iron), 525g for silver, and 455g for bronze. The diameter of the medals is 8.5 cm, and the thickness is 9.2 mm. A total of 5,084 medals were produced for the Paris Olympics, including both the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Tony Estanguet, president of the Paris Olympic Organizing Committee, described the medal as "a meeting between the most coveted object in the Olympics and the iconic Eiffel Tower of France."

Many athletes bite their medals upon receiving them. This scene is expected to be repeated this year after medal wins. There are various theories about the origin of this ceremony. CNN in the United States interpreted it as "originating from the need to bite coins to check whether they were real or fake." Another claim is that it follows an ancient custom of testing the quality of gold with teeth, the hardest part of the body. Jin Jong-oh, who won a gold medal in shooting at the 2012 London Olympics, explained that it is "a pose to confirm that it is gold."

It is expected that there will be scenes of athletes biting their gold medals at this year's Paris Olympics as well.
[Photo by Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee]

There is also an analysis that this scene emerged due to the eagerness of photojournalists. Kim Jae-bum, a gold medalist in judo at the London Olympics, admitted, "I bit the medal because the photojournalists told me to." Some argue that biting medals is an undignified act that diminishes the value of the medal. There have even been accidents caused by biting medals. At the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, David M?ller, a silver medalist in luge from Germany, broke his front tooth after biting his medal at the request of photojournalists and had to be taken to the hospital. Many people wonder what the medals taste like when they see athletes biting them. This time, the Paris Olympic medal tastes like the Eiffel Tower.