More than 5,000 medals were made for the Paris Olympics and Paralympics in 2024. But how were those medals made, and what was the manufacturing process that made it all possible? 

Every gold, silver and bronze medal awarded at the 2024 Olympics went through through rigorous design, sourcing and manufacturing phases. The medals were also made with a focus on sustainable, ethical processes using recycled materials, and included a small hexagonal piece of iron from the Eiffel Tower attached to the center of each one. 

That process started with the original design concepts, which were created by famous French jewelry house Chaumet. Once the designs were finalized, manufacturing company Fictic theorizes that the next step was likely assembling molds to make 3D-printed test versions. The test medals would then undergo inspections to ensure they met the Olympic committee's standards, before the molds would finally be used to create the real deal.

Paris threw in an extra wrinkle in 2024 with the addition of the Eiffel Tower iron, which was sourced from previous work on the iconic tower to modernize its elevators in the 20th century. During those renovations, parts of the tower were permanently removed and preserved, ultimately providing plenty of material to work with for the 2024 games. Including the iron from the Eiffel Tower was also a nod to the landmark's original engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, who commissioned Chaumet to make a pearl necklace his daughter's wedding in the late 19th century.

“We’ve decided to add this hexagon [which represents the shape of France] in the way we would a gemstone — in the center and placed as the most precious element of the medal,” said Chaumet's Clementine Massonnat in a February news release prior to the start of the summer games.

Making the gold, silver and bronze medals themselves — each with recycled metals in favor of newly-mined materials — involved electroplating, polishing, and cleaning, followed by one final inspection process, all of which was handled by the Paris Mint. Typically, gold medals are actually mostly made up of silver (a standard practice for the Olympics), and are covered with six grams of gold plating to give them their iconic sheen. Silver medals are usually around 92% silver with copper making up the difference, while bronzes contain a combination of copper, tin and zinc alloys in addition to their namesake material.