The Paris Olympics medals are monumental: They’re made with metal chunks from the Eiffel Tower

By JOHN LEICESTER
Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — When they make history at the Paris Games, Olympic medalists will take a bit of France and its history home, too. A hexagonal, polished piece of iron taken from the Eiffel Tower is being embedded in the gold, silver and bronze medals that will be hung around athletes’ necks at this year’s Summer Games and Paralympics. Games organizers revealed the design Thursday. The pieces of the Eiffel Tower each weigh 18 grams. They were cut from girders and other bits that were swapped out during renovations of the tower and stored for safekeeping. Paris jewelry house Chaumet designed the medals and the Paris Mint is manufacturing 5,084 of them.