From landmark to legacy: Eiffel Tower pieces shine in 2024 Olympic medals

The Summer Olympic Games in Paris will start in July. On Thursday, the organizers of this event presented the design of medals for the best athletes. As it turns out, they will contain a unique souvenir - real fragments of the iconic Eiffel Tower.

All three medals, gold, silver, and bronze, will contain small iron fragments from which the Eiffel Tower is made. These building elements were collected during many different renovations over the last decades.

"The Eiffel Tower, the daughter of Paris and site of major world events had to be used to provide athletes with an unforgettable souvenir of Paris. With this unique metal from the Eiffel Tower, this medal has a historic character and is a nod to Pierre de Coubertin (the founder of modern, today-known Olympics) who, as a contemporary of Gustave Eiffel, was one of the last people to be able to visit the construction site of the Tower before it was opened", said Jean-Francois Martins, president of the Societe d'Exploitation de la tour Eiffel, quoted by Sky Sports.

The Eiffel Tower is made of puddle iron, an iron that has been specially treated, during which excess carbon contained in the iron ore is removed. The materials used to build the Eiffel Tower come from the Forges de Pompey near Nancy, according to the official website of this building.

Sources: CBS News, Sky Sports