One year from the start of the Tokyo Summer Olympics, the Olympic Committee has just revealed the design of the medals that will be awarded to the best of the 10,500 athletes present, through the 321 Olympic sports events.
Recycling already practiced in Vancouver in 2010
For this summer edition of the Tokyo Olympics, Japan announced in February 2017 its intention to design medals in recycled materials. A method already used at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games for which televisions, computers, and keyboards were retrieved.
From April 2017 until March 2019, the Japanese were able to bring back their old smartphones, but also their game consoles, cameras, and laptops at most NTT Docomo points of sale, the most influential operator in Japan, as well as post offices and city collection points. At the end of this period, more than 80,000 tons of devices were recovered, including more than 6.21 million phones.
Thousands of pounds of materials for thousands of medals
After sorting and dismantling this harvest, approximately 32 kg of gold, 3,500 kg of silver and 2,200 kg of bronze were extracted from the aircraft. What has been recovered, will allow making no less than 5,000 medals, which will be awarded at these Olympic Games and Paralympic Games in Tokyo.
The gold medals will consist of six grams of recycled gold for a total weight of approximately 556 grams. The silver medals will be silver and the bronze medals will be made from a red brass alloy composed of 95% copper and 5% zinc.
These medals are Junichi Kawanishiwho imagined them. The Japanese designer was selected after a contest bringing together more than 400 participants, professional designers, and students. Representing not only the energy of the athletes, it is cut and polished so that it reflects the light in a multitude of ways representing here " the warmth of friendship ". On the front, we can distinguish the play of light, carved on the edges of the medal with the Olympics logo in the center. On the reverse side, the engraving depicts the divinity Nike, the goddess of victory.
Now that these medals have been unveiled, there is less than a year left in Japan to finish preparing for the Olympic Games that will start on July 24, 2020, in Tokyo.
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