Paris organizers reveal unique look of medals for recipients
Those who win medals at this summer’s Olympics in Paris will get more than just gold, silver or bronze to display for life in a trophy case. They’ll also have a small piece of the Eiffel Tower.
Last week, organizers unveiled the medals for recipients, which in the middle will have 18 grams of original metal made from the Eiffel Tower.
The pieces used in the medals were cut from girders and other hits that were swapped out of the famous Tower while renovations took place.
“Of course, having a gold medal is already something incredible,” said Joachim Roncin, head of design for the Paris Games Organizing Committee, to the Associated Press. “But we wanted to have this French touch. We thought the Eiffel Tower would be this cherry on the top.”
Katie Ledecky’s incredible streak ended by Canadian phenom
It might have seemed like a small and relatively meaningless race in Orlando last week, but it turned out to be all the talk of the swimming world.
During a race in Orlando, American Katie Ledecky saw a 13-year streak of victories in the 800 freestyle end at the hands of 17-year-old Canadian Summer McIntosh.
The 26-year-old Ledecky won gold medals in the event at the last three Olympics and is favored to do so again this summer, but McIntosh put the world on notice to not crown Ledecky again just yet in Paris with a sterling performance.
McIntosh swam the race in 8 minutes, 11.39 seconds, nearly six seconds faster than Ledecky.
Ultimately, this could just prove to be a blip on the radar in terms of Ledecky’s dominance in the event. But no doubt, it was an eye-opening performance by McIntosh that will add some intrigue to the swimming competition in Paris.
Decorated Jamaican sprinter announces Paris games will be her last
Jamaican track and field star Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce might not be a known name in the United States, but for those unaware, she is arguably the greatest female sprinter of all-time.
She became the first 100-meter sprinter to win individual medals at four different Olympics, winning gold medals at the 2008 and 2012 Games, a bronze in 2016 and a silver in 2020.
Last week, the 37-year-old Fraser-Pryce announced that she will retire after competing at this summer’s Paris Olympics.
Fraser-Pryce has also won six individual world championship gold medals, five them in the 100 meters and one in the 200 meters.
