Paris Olympics medals contain pieces of Eiffel Tower

An Olympic medal inlaid with a piece of the Eiffel Tower. How's that for a monumental prize?

A hexagonal, polished chunk of iron taken from the iconic landmark is being embedded in each gold, silver and bronze medal that will be hung around athletes' necks at the July 26-Aug. 11 Paris Games and Paralympics that follow.

Games organizers revealed their revolutionary design on Thursday.

Simone Biles has seven medals from her two previous Olympics and LeBron James has two golds and one bronze from London, Beijing and Athens. But neither of those athletes who are targeting the Paris Games nor any of the roughly 36,600 other medalists at 29 previous Summer Olympics stretching back to 1896 ever owned one quite like these.

By making history at the Games, Paris medalists will take a bit of France and its history home, too.

Here's a deep dive into the medals that are sure to wow:

PARIS >>

the last held in Paris.

The iron pieces embedded in the center of the Olympic medals each weigh 18 grams (about two-thirds of an ounce).

They were cut from girders and other bits that were swapped out of the Eiffel Tower during renovations and stored for safekeeping, according to Joachim Roncin, head of design at the Paris Games organizing committee.

“The concept came after a few discussions. We realized that there's one symbol known across the world, which is the Eiffel Tower,” Roncin said. “We said to ourselves, `Hey, what if we approached the Eiffel Tower Operating Co. to see if it's possible to get a bit of the Eiffel Tower to integrate into the medal?'”

The company agreed, and “the dream became reality,” he said. “It's really a bit of metal from the Eiffel Tower.” But we wanted to add this French touch and we thought that the Eiffel Tower would be this cherry on the top,” Roncin said.

“Having a piece of it is a piece of history.”

The ancient Greek goddess of victory, Nike, features on the Olympic medals' other side — as she has done at every Games since 1928. But Paris has also added a small representation of the Eiffel Tower on that side, in another break with tradition.

The other side of the Paralympic medals shows a view of the tower as if looking upward from underneath. For visually impaired people, “Paris 2024” is written in Braille and the edges have notches: one for gold, two for silver, three for bronze.

PHOTOS: THIBAULT CAMUS — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Above, Paris 2024Olympics organizing committee president Tony Estanguet, right, French athletes Marie Patouillet, center right, Sara Balzer, center left and Arnaud Assoumani show the Paris 2024Olympic and Paralympic medals at the Eiffel Tower. Below is a closer look at the medal containing a hexagonal, polished piece of iron from the Eiffel Tower.