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Olympics 2024: Why do the medallists receive a cardboard box - and what's inside it?

Paris Olympic organisers have thrown in a bonus prize for medal winners, a mysterious cardboard box.

ben talintyre
Sports Reporter
·4-min read

The Paris Olympics is well and truly underway and some eagle-eyed viewers have spotted something peculiar with the medal ceremonies. At the 2024 Games, Olympic medallists have been given both their medals and a long thin cardboard box for their athletic achievements.

This mysterious box has stood out in the hands of medal winners in recent nights, capturing viewers' attention against the blue backdrop of the swimming events. And it is a peculiar sight that hasn't been seen before in the Olympics.

Pictured left Ariarne Titmus and Molly O'Callaghan and right Paris Olympics employees parade with boxes for winning athletes
Paris Olympic organisers have thrown in a bonus prize for medal winners, a cardboard box containing a limited edition piece of art. Image: Getty

At the likes of Tokyo and Rio, medal-winners received a toy mascot and flowers at the ceremony along with their medals. But this year the floral arrangements and cuddly toy have been replaced by a long thin box, with fans all asking the same thing, what is inside the cardboard box?

Inside the box is a Paris-themed poster, specially made by a French artist for this year’s Olympics. Designed by Frenchman Ugo Gattoni, the limited-edition illustration is being given as a special thanks to each medalling competitor. The poster is a cartoon version of Paris, with a bright-red Eiffel Tower and the stunning Seine as the focal point of the illustration, with several other famous Parisian landmarks also standing out thanks to the artist using bright pastel colours.

Sporting events can also be seen taking place all over the city centre as fans are depicted watching on and waving flags. The artist has also enclosed all the Paris landmarks inside of a giant stadium. The Eiffel Tower also is lit up with the words ‘XXXIII Olympiade' - as this is the 33rd edition of the Olympics.

The detailed piece of work reportedly took the French artist six months to complete, working on it full time. “It’s a new, key moment in the Paris 2024 story,” Paris Games president Tony Estanguet at the unveiling of the poster in March. “We’ve tried to be different and imagine posters that look like us, posters that go beyond a mere logo.” With close to 1,000 medals up for grabs at the Games, there are plenty of posters set to go around.

French artist Ugo Gattoni looks at the official posters of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games
French artist Ugo Gattoni looks at the official poster he created for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Image: Getty

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The French have also put their own special touch on this Games' Olympic medals. Athletes who finish on the podium at the Paris Games, take home an Olympic medal inlaid with a piece of the Eiffel Tower.

A hexagonal, polished chunk of iron taken from the iconic landmark is embedded in each gold, silver and bronze medal at both the Paris Games and Paralympics.

The Eiffel Tower is 330m tall and made up of 18,038 iron parts. Built for the 1889 World's Fair — which celebrated the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution — engineer Gustave Eiffel's tower was only intended to stand for 20 years.

So therefore to keep the iconic tower standing it has needed a fair bit of rejuvenating over the years. And with the most recent renovations, the pieces of the Eiffel Tower that were swapped out have been used for the Paris medals.

According to Joachim Roncin, head of design at the Paris Games organizing committee, the pieces of the iconic structure replaced were stored for safekeeping with the intent of using them in the medals. "The concept came after a few discussions. We realized that there's one symbol known across the world, which is the Eiffel Tower," Roncin previously revealed. "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?'"