New Delhi: The 2024 Summer Olympics, officially and popularly known as the Paris 2024 began on July 24, and will end on August 11, 2024, in France. It is a dream of almost every athlete to win an Olympic medal, considered an achievement of a lifetime. The Olympic medals vary from one edition to another. In this article, we will take a look at the interesting and intricate connection that the medals of this edition share with Napoleon Bonaparte and the French emperor’s celebration. Wondering what it is? Find out to read more.
Who designed the medals this year?
Since the Olympic Games in 1896, the designs of the medals have varied considerably, especially when it comes to their size for the Summer Olympic Games (there is a Winter edition as well). While the design of the 1928 Games was followed for several years, it was replaced at the 2004 Games in Athens due to a controversy. Also, it is not just the competitors who are honoured but every athlete placed first to eighth receives an Olympic diploma. On top of that, the names of all medal winners are written on a wall.
What is the connection between this year’s medals and Napoleon Bonaparte?
The medal this year has the Acropolis of Athens, the Eiffel Tower and the Panathenaic Stadium on the obverse in the background with rays surrounding and on the reverse, there is the Paris 2024 logo surrounded by rays. The shapes of the tokens are hexagonal and they are from the Eiffel Tower’s original construction.
The medals have been created by Chaumet, a jewellery and watchmaking designer which was established in 1780 by Marie-Étienne Nitot. In 1780, Nitot settled in Paris after being an apprentice at Aubert, then the jeweller to Queen Marie-Antoinette. After the French Revolution, Nitot’s jewellery house took off, becoming the official jeweller of Napoleon I in 1804.
He created jewellery for the French Empire with his son François Regnault’s help and created the jewellery when Napoleon got married to Joséphine de Beauharnais, and later during his wedding to Marie Louise de Habsburg-Lorraine. He also created the Napoleon Diamond Necklace and the Marie Louise Diadem that Napoleon commissioned to celebrate his son’s birth. Nitot was also the designer of Napoleon’s coronation sword and many other pieces for the court. After the fall and exile of Napoleon, Nitot, a fervent royalist, withdrew from the jewellery house and sold the business to Jean Baptiste Fossin, his foreman.
Since the Olympic Games in 1896, the designs of the medals have varied considerably, especially when it comes to their size for the Summer Olympic Games. The medals this year have been created by Chaumet, a jewellery and watchmaking designer. knowledge Knowledge News, Photos and Videos on General Knowledge
