Summer Games medal design unveiled
Graphic artist Shaun O’melia’s creation tops among 45 entries
With a colour guard, the beating of a drum and a dazzling introductory video, the host society for the Niagara 2022 Canada Summer Games unveiled the gold, silver and bronze medals for which athletes will compete this August.
The event celebrated the design created by St. Catharines graphic artist Shaun O’melia and marked the 100-day-out countdown to the Games that will bring more than 5,000 young athletes and their coaches to the region, and Canada’s largest multi-sport event, Aug. 6 to 21.
“You see the devotion and effort athletes put into their journey,” said O’melia of the medals after the event that drew a crowd to Ravine Vineyard Estate Winery in Niagara-on-the-lake for the unveiling.
“I hope this will be a timeless piece for them, as it was for me.”
O’melia won a contest for which 45 applicants qualified to submit designs in July 2020.
“After countless hours, numerous iterations and unexpected delays, I am happy to know the medal design was able to live up to the test of time,” O’melia said. “Upon revisiting the design, I wouldn’t want to change a thing.”
O’melia is a Niagara College graduate specializing in branding and illustration at O’melia Creative Co.
His clients have included Niagara Parks, Ontario Craft Wineries and Brimstone Brewing Co.
O’melia receives $2,000 as the design winner as well as a set of commemorative medals. He will also participate in the Games’ first medal ceremony.
The medal design incorporates five key features, including Niagara Falls, which O’melia divided into 13 waves representing Canada’s 13 provinces and territories, Niagara’s 13 municipalities and 13 ceremonies of the moon celebrated annually by the Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe — the original residents of Niagara.
The medal also celebrates the sun
for sustaining life growth and the Games’ summer schedule. Seven human figures acknowledge an ancient Haudenosaunee philosophy whereby today’s decisions should result in a sustainable world for seven generations.
The medal lanyard takes inspiration from historic Wampum treaties, which promoted friendship, respect and unity.
Teck Resources Ltd., one of Canada’s leading mining companies, manufactured the medals. The company has served as the exclusive medals supplier of Canada’s largest multi-sport competition since 2012.
“We couldn’t be more proud and excited to finally reveal the unique and inspiring design of our Niagara 2022 Canada Summer Games medals, as created by talented local artist Shaun O’melia,” said Doug Hamilton, chair of the Niagara 2022 Host Society.
“The design of both the medal and the lanyard truly captures the spirit of Niagara, and it will undoubtedly provide the many deserving medallists from the 2022 Canada Games with an honour that they will cherish for years to come,” Hamilton added.