Wednesday 24 July 2019, 12:18

Design of Olympic medals unveiled

  • Design of Olympic medals for Tokyo 2020 now known

  • Junichi Kawanishi's winning design chosen from over 400 candidates

  • Olympic Football Tournaments to run in the summer of 2021

Want to know what the medals for the top three sides at the Men’s and Women’s Olympic Football Tournaments will look like? Well, we now have the answer.

The medal design will be that of Junichi Kawanishi, who was selected by the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee in a competition that elicited more than 400 submissions.

The Japanese artist's medals resemble coarse stones that have been polished and refined over time, in much the same way that athletes have to strive daily and refine their performances in order to attain victory and glory.

Kawanishi hopes that “the medals will be seen as a tribute to the efforts of the athletes, reflecting their glory and also symbolising friendship”.

However, the medals that will be awarded at Tokyo 2020 will be unique in that all of Japan will help manufacture them. How so, you ask?

  • Recycling technology: the gold, silver and bronze elements of the Tokyo 2020 medals will be made from metals extracted from used electronic devices.

  • A countrywide effort: over the last two years, thousands of Japanese from all across the country have donated more than 78,000 tons of mobiles and devices to be used in the manufacture of the medals.

A ribbon inspired by Japanese art

Another detail that was revealed on Wednesday was the design of the ribbon from which the medals will hang. The geometric drawings are inspired by the traditional Japanese design of ichimatsu moyo (harmonised checkered patterns) and kasane no irome (traditional techniques of kimonos).