Paris 2024 Podium Finishers to Take Piece of Eiffel Tower Home

FILE - A woman walks to a bridge in front of the Eiffel Tower after snowfalls, Jan. 18, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla, File)
FILE - A woman walks to a bridge in front of the Eiffel Tower after snowfalls, Jan. 18, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla, File)
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Paris 2024 Podium Finishers to Take Piece of Eiffel Tower Home

FILE - A woman walks to a bridge in front of the Eiffel Tower after snowfalls, Jan. 18, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla, File)
FILE - A woman walks to a bridge in front of the Eiffel Tower after snowfalls, Jan. 18, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla, File)

Podium finishers at the upcoming Paris Olympics will be rewarded with a piece of the Eiffel Tower, organizers said on Thursday, unveiling the event’s medals which are set with hexagon-shaped tokens forged out of scrap metal from the monument.
The idea was to link the Games with symbols of France, said Thierry Reboul, creative director of Paris 2024.
"The absolute symbol of Paris and France is the Eiffel Tower," said Reboul. "It's the opportunity for the athletes to bring back a piece of Paris with them."
Designed by jeweler Chaumet, the 18-gram hexagon tokens, representing the shape of France, are made of iron from past refurbishments of the Tower stored for years in a warehouse whose location is secret, Reuters reported.
They sit in the center of the gold, silver and bronze medals, ringed with grooves evoking light rays bursting outward – drawn from a tiara design in Chaumet’s archives.
The back of the medals features the Greek goddess of victory, Nike, charging forward, with the Acropolis to one side and the Eiffel Tower to the other.
Paralympics medals feature a view of the Eiffel Tower from underneath, and are stamped with Paris 2024 in braille – homage to the Frenchman who invented it.
The 5,084 medals are produced by France’s mint, the Monnaie de Paris.



‘Flooding Rains’ Threaten to Dampen Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony

Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
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‘Flooding Rains’ Threaten to Dampen Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony

Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)

The Paris Olympics look likely to get off to a soggy start.

Meteo-France, the French weather service, is predicting “flooding rains” Friday evening when the opening ceremony is set to unroll along the Seine River. But the show is set to go on as planned, starting at 1:30 p.m. EDT/7:30 p.m. CEST and should last more than three hours.

Already in the late afternoon, skies were gray with intermittent drizzle. There was a silver lining, though, with temperatures expected to stay relatively warm throughout the evening.

Instead of a traditional march into a stadium, about 6,800 athletes will parade on more than 90 boats on the Seine River for 6 kilometers (3.7 miles). Though 10,700 athletes are expected to compete at these Olympics, hundreds of soccer players are based outside Paris, surfers are in Tahiti and many have yet to arrive for their events in the second week, organizers said Thursday.

Hundreds of thousands of people, including 320,000 paying and invited ticket-holders, are expected to line the Seine’s banks as athletes are paraded along the river on boats.