30 Jul 2024

What's in the boxes athletes receive when they win a medal at the Paris Olympics?

3:22 pm on 30 July 2024
HORIGOME Yuto of Japan (R), gold, and HUSTON Nyjah of the U.S., bronze, hug each other after a medal ceremony of the men's skateboarding street final in the Paris Olympics at the Place de la Concorde 3 in Paris, France, on July 29, 2024. ( The Yomiuri Shimbun ) (Photo by Takuya Matsumoto / Yomiuri / The Yomiuri Shimbun via AFP)

Horigome Yuto of Japan (R), gold, and Huston Nyjah of the US, bronze, hug each other after a medal ceremony of the men's skateboarding street final in the Paris Olympics at the Place de la Concorde 3 in Paris, France, on July 29, 2024. Photo: Takuya Matsumoto / The Yomiuri Shimbun via AFP

It is not just medals that Olympic champions have been receiving on the podium during the Paris Olympics.

In lieu of things such as flowers or wreaths, athletes are being handed long cardboard boxes with no markings on them.

So what is in them? A very thin bottle of French champagne? Maybe a freshly baked baguette?

Of course not. It is the work of this guy …

French artist Ugo Gattoni poses ahead the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games official posters in his workshop in Ivry sur seine, near Paris, on February 1, 2024. (Photo by JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY MENTION OF THE ARTIST UPON PUBLICATION - TO ILLUSTRATE THE EVENT AS SPECIFIED IN THE CAPTION

Artist Ugo Gattoni with the official Paris Olympics 2024 poster he designed, which is being handed to medal winners at the Games. Photo: AFP / JULIEN DE ROSA

Inside the box is the official Olympic poster of Paris 2024, designed by Ugo Gattoni, showing a cartoon version of Paris with a picture of a big red Eiffel Tower and the Seine, surrounded by sports taking place.

It also has the words XXXIII Olympiade, referencing the fact that Paris 2024 is the 33rd edition of the Games.

Athletes also get this summer Games' mascot as a cuddly toy - and of course their medals, which all include a part of the Eiffel Tower in them.

- ABC

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