What's inside the box given to medal winners at Paris Olympics?
Medals aren't the only hardware winning Olympians are receiving at the podium. Winners like Philippines' Carlos Yulo, who bagged gold twice at the 2024 Paris Games, were given a slim gold box. What exactly is in it?
According to the Olympics website, the box, measuring about 40 centimeters, contains the official poster for the event designed by Ugo Gattoni. This is handed to them during the awarding ceremony.
According to Gattoni, he spent almost 2,000 hours designing the colorful posters, which feature the Paris 2024 logo, the Eiffel Tower with a "XXXIII Olympiade" sign on it, and other venues used at the game.
Australian gold medalist Jessica Fox took to TikTok to give a closer look at the box and poster.
Outside, there's a label next to a transparent window for the poster, and it reads "Athlete Edition - Olympic Games Paris 2024 Official poster."
"Usually, we get the mascot or we get flowers, but this time, it's a little bit more unique, and I think it's actually a really cool concept," the canoeist said in the video.
In her poster, the Paris 2024 logo is in gold as she's a gold medalist. The detail changes depending on the medal the athlete receives.
Podium finishers also received stuffed Olympic Phryges with either gold, silver, or bronze medals. These were made at the Doudou & Compagnie factory in La Guerche-de-Bretagne.
Medals with a piece of France
The medals for the winners of the Paris Games are special too as they get to take home a piece of the Eiffel Tower with them. In each medal, designed by the French jewelry house Chaumet, are fragments of iron that were removed from the iconic landmark during its renovations.
The iron from the Eiffel Tower is formed into a hexagon while fine lines project around it. On the other side is a carved image of the Greek goddess of victory, Athena Nike, with the Panathenaic stadium to her left and the Eiffel Tower to her right.
For the Paralympic medals, Chaumet went with a graphic representation of the upward perspective of the Paris landmark. The words "Paris" and "2024" are also etched in Braille.
In Yulo's case, when he returns to the Philippines, a handful of prizes await. He will receive a fully-furnished condo unit in McKinley Hill and P3 million from Megaworld, P10 million and an Olympic Gold Medal of Valor from the government as per Republic Act 10699, and P6 million in cash incentives from the House of Representatives.
