00:00Putting one of these around your neck is the crowning moment for any Olympian.
00:06There are 329 medal events in 32 sports at the Paris Games, and all of this year's medals
00:12were made here at the Paris Mint, which is running a special exhibition during the Olympics.
00:18The Paris Mint is in the center of the capital, right in the middle of the Games, and it makes
00:25sense that the body that strikes the medals should tell the story of the Olympic medals.
00:29It's based on our collection because, notably, here we have made a great number of medals
00:33for Paris, but also for Athens, for the first modern Olympic Games in 1896.
00:38So the logic is there, to tell the story from 1896 to 2024.
00:45The jeweler Chaumet, owned by the French luxury giant LVMH, tapped into the country's history
00:51of refinement and haute couture as the lead designer of the Paris medals.
00:57It was a great honor for us at Chaumet, and for me it was also completely obvious that
01:02it would be the house of Chaumet that would create the designs for the medals.
01:06Why?
01:07Well, because we are the oldest jeweler here in the renowned Vendôme Square, with 244
01:11years of history.
01:12So, at the heart of the LVMH group, it seemed to us clear that it would be Chaumet that
01:17would take charge of the medal design.
01:20On July the 24th, the host of the 2030 Winter Olympics was announced, and the Games were
01:25conditionally awarded to the French Alps.
01:31Mint previously made the first ever Winter Olympics medals for Chamonix 1924, and we
01:36also made the medals for the 1968 Games in Grenoble.
01:40The Paris Mint was founded in the year 864, more than a millennium ago.
01:46So there is a lot of history behind the striking of the medals.
01:50But there is also a modern side.
01:52By using recycled metals, there is an environmentally conscious element to the golds, silvers and
01:58bronzes that are being handed out at this year's Summer Games.
02:02Ross Cullen, CGTN, Paris.
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