Since its glorious inception in 1896, the Olympic Games have continued to feature a set of treasured Olympic medals in the bronze, silver, and gold categories for the undefeated winners. While the Olympic medals are hailed as the epitome of excellence by billions of athletes and sports fans around the world, a majority of them still have no idea about the process and details that go behind manufacturing these highly treasured Olympic medals that serve as the ultimate benchmark of dedication and supremacy in the sports arena on a global scale.

In this article, we will take a look at the detailed manufacturing process of the Olympic medals.

Designing of the Olympic Medals

While members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) play a crucial role in overviewing the final design of the Olympic medals, the responsibility of designing and manufacturing the Olympic medals is generally left on the shoulders of the host city. The host city generally collaborates with prominent artists and designers to come up with their own unique segment of Olympic medals. As per the guidelines of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the designers must include the following details while curating designs for the Olympic medals :

• Year of the Olympics
• The Olympic Motto

The Olympic medals for the 2024 Paris Olympics have been designed in collaboration with one of the most prominent jewelry designers in Paris, Chaumet.

Manufacturability Assessment of the Olympic Medals

Once the design for the Olympic medals gets approved by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the designer moves to the next stage which involves specialized manufacturing engineers who are responsible for crafting the Olympic medals with precision, durability, and reduced production cost that reduces the toll of the host city.

The Olympic medals for the 2024 Paris Olympics carry original iron sourced from the Eiffel Tower.

Prototyping the Olympic Medals

After the manufacturing engineers have decided on their design for manufacturability guidance (DFM) and the material that would be used in crafting the Olympic medals, the next stage involves the craftsmen prototyping the Olympic medals with either clay or a sand mold.

Once the casting process is completed, the Olympic Medals are punched with a CNC machine and are later polished or electroplated.

Final Manufacturing of the Olympic Medals

Once the Olympic medals have been cast to perfection and all the quality checks have been passed by the manufacturer’s quality control team, the main stage of manufacturing begins, which involves stamping and CNC machining.

The Olympic medals are manufactured strictly according to the guidelines of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and meet all the quality and aesthetic standards as stated by the IOC.

In the final stage, the Olympic medals are polished and cleaned before entering the next and final round of inspection before shipping.

Final Inspection & Shipping of the Olympic Medals

If you think it’s all that is involved in the manufacturing of Olympic medals, you might need to give it another thought as we are still not done.

After the final rounds of manufacturing, stamping, punching, and polishing, the Olympic Medals still have to go for a rigorous final inspection round to ensure that the medals crafted perfectly meet the guidelines and standards as stated by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Once the final inspection is completed and the checks regarding the weight, texture, polishing, color & inscriptions are passed, the Olympic medals are then shipped to the Olympic committee.