CBS News
Paris 2024 Olympics medals unveiled, each with a little piece of the Eiffel Tower right in the middle
Paris — There’s another metal on offer for winners at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics. In addition to the customary gold, silver and bronze, each winner’s medal will feature a small piece of iron straight from the Eiffel Tower. Small chunks of the iconic tower — an instantly recognizable symbol of Paris and of France — have been included in the medals to mark 100 years since the City of Light last hosted the Olympic Games.
Organizers unveiled the medals Thursday, just six months before the Paris games are set to get underway.
Every individual medal has at its center a hexagon of iron from the tower. They all come from pieces removed from the structure during different renovations over the last century. The pieces of metal were carefully preserved, and the organization in charge of the Eiffel Tower’s preservation donated them to the Paris Olympic committee to create the unique medal designs.
Jean-François Martins, President of the Société d’Exploitation de la tour Eiffel, said at the unveiling that he hoped the athletes would appreciate the “unforgettable souvenir of Paris” made from “this unique metal.”
The Eiffel Tower is made entirely of a special type of iron known as “puddle” iron. Manufactured in forges and blast furnaces in Lorraine, eastern France, the cast iron produced by reducing iron ore is refined with an operation called “puddling.” By removing the excess carbon still present in cast iron, puddle iron is made into an almost pure material, which is extremely strong.
The tower was erected in 1889 as part of the Universal Exhibition. Designed by Gustave Eiffel, it was originally intended to be a temporary structure, but it captured so much attention that officials decided to keep it standing on the bank of the River Seine.
The Olympic and Paralympic medals were designed by craftworkers at the famous Chaumet House of Jewellery, which is part of the luxury LVMH group. It’s the first time in the history of the Olympic and Paralympic Games that a jeweller has designed the medals.
“The Maison Chaumet creative team has conceived each medal as a jewel, taking inspiration from the Parisian craftsmanship of its legendary Place Vendôme workshops and illustrating the vocation shared by all the Houses in our group: the ability to make people dream,” said Antoine Arnault, of LVMH Image & Environment. “We hope that each athlete will enjoy wearing and admiring the medal as much as we enjoyed creating it for them.”
“A symbol of excellence, a source of motivation, of surpassing oneself and of ultimate achievement, medals are much more than objects: They represent the apotheosis in the career of elite athletes,” said Tony Estenguet, President of Paris 2024. “Their power to fascinate and inspire goes far beyond the circle of athletes.”
Estenguet also noted that the Paris 2024 organizers had said from the start that they wanted to bring the Olympic and Paralympic Games closer together. The torch design is the same for both and, to continue that philosophy, the medals for both Games share a common face, the side with the hexagon of iron from the tower.
The other side is different. The Olympic medals feature the goddess of victory, Nike, emerging from the Panathenaic Stadium, where the Olympic Games were revived in 1896. In a nod to 2024, the Eiffel Tower is seen in the background, along with the Acropolis.
The Paralympic medals feature a low-angle view under the Eiffel Tower. In keeping with the spirit of inclusion in the Games, the inscriptions “Paris” and “2024” are written in universal Braille — the script invented by Frenchman Louis Braille. And to ensure the three different metals can be distinguished by touch, lines are engraved on the edge of each medal, I for gold, II for silver and III for bronze.
The design of Olympic medals has become standardized to a degree, with each featuring the goddess Nike and the Olympic rings, as well as the name of the games in question and the discipline or sport concerned. Each organizing committee is free to adapt the primary design and choose a unique design for the reverse side, however. There is no standardization of the Paralympic medals.
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games will run from July 26 until Aug. 11, and the Paralympic Games from Aug. 28 through Sept. 8.
CBS News
RNC committee approves Trump-influenced 2024 GOP platform with softened abortion language
The Republican National Committee’s 2024 platform, approved by its platform committee and released Monday, is influenced heavily by presumptive presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump, and in a change from prior years, it backs the rights of states to make their own abortion laws.
The 2016 RNC platform mentioned the word “abortion” 35 times and backed a constitutional amendment to ban abortion: “[W]e assert the sanctity of human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental right to life which cannot be infringed,” the RNC’s 2016 platform said. “We support a human life amendment to the Constitution and legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to children before birth.”
The Republican Party did not release a platform in 2020. And the 2024 platform only mentions the word once.
“We proudly stand for families and life,” the 2024 platform says. “We believe that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States guarantees that no person can be denied life or liberty without due process,” but it goes on to say, “the states are, therefore, free to pass laws protecting those rights.”
The platform has been initially approved by the RNC committee, but is expected to go to a full vote Tuesday and be officially approved the first day of the Republican National Convention next week.
It also goes on to express opposition to late-term abortion and support for “policies that advance prenatal care, access to birth control, and IVF (fertility treatments).”
Ralph Reed, founder and chairman of the Faith and Freedom coalition, previously expressed concerns about removing abortion language, but he appeared to fall in line and back the GOP platform as released.
“The Republican Party platform makes clear the unborn child has a right to life that is protected by the Constitution under the due process clause of the 14th Amendment,” Reed said in a statement. “That language has been in the GOP platform for 40 years and reflects the view of Ronald Reagan. While aspirational, it applies to both the states and the federal government. The proposed ban on late-term abortion also implies federal as well as state action. It is an unapologetically pro-life position, and we are grateful to President Trump and the Republican Party for standing for life.”
RNC Chairman Michael Whatley and Co-chair Lara Trump focused on the economy and the border in their statement on the platform.
“Only President Trump can restore our economy, restore our southern border, and restore America’s standing in the world,” the two RNC leaders said in a joint statement. “His 2024 Republican Party Platform is a bold roadmap that will undo the devastating damage that Joe Biden’s far-left policies have done to this country, power President Trump to a historic victory in November, and Make America Great Again.”
The platform is titled, “2024 GOP Platform: Make America Great Again!” It bears clear signs of the former president’s influence, emphasizing enforcing border security and stopping the “migrant crime epidemic.” The platform includes a goal to carry out “the largest deportation operation in American history.”
The platform also proposes building a “great iron dome missile defense shield over our entire country.”
Trump and his campaign have also adopted a new proposal in recent months — eliminating taxes on tips. Trump mentions it frequently at rallies, and it appears in the RNC 2024 platform, along with a promise to end inflation, which has been easing.
The GOP also states in the platform that there will be no cuts to Social Security or Medicare and no changes to the retirement age. It also says that the push for electric vehicles should be canceled and regulations should be cut. And it calls for “same day voting, voter identification, paper ballots, and proof of citizenship” as means to “secure our elections.”
CBS News
How Biden is fighting calls to step aside
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
CBS News
Houston mayor provides Beryl flooding update, says 2 million without power
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.