The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics officially kicked off a week ago. Almost 3,000 athletes from 91 nations are coming together to compete to get one of 109 gold medals on offer across seven sports.
Bejing hosted the 2008 summer Olympics and now, 14 years after, is the first city ever to have hosted both the summer and winter games.
To showcase Bejing as the first “dual Olympic city”, the medals feature the “jade-inlaid medals of the Summer Games in 2008” (olympics.com).
[source: olympics.com]
What Do the Winter Olympic Medals Look Like?
The 2022 Beijing medals are named “Tong Xin”, meaning “together as one”, and are composed of five rings. The design, based on Chinese ancient jade concentric circle pendants, has five rings representing the Olympic spirit- bringing people together and being shared worldwide.
The five Olympic rings are engraved in the centre with the words “XXIV Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022” engraved around it. The shallow carved designs on the rings are all based on traditional Chinese patterns reflecting ice, snow and cloud.
What Are the Winter Olympic Medals Made Out Of?
Despite outward appearance, the Olympic Gold medal only has a small amount of the yellow metal in it. The core of the medal is around 92.5% of silver. The Winter Olympic Gold medals actually only contain about 6g of gold which is only found in the outer shell.
The Silver medals are also 92.5% silver, while the Bronze medals are mostly Copper.
Has it always been this way about Olympic medals?
Athletes biting their Gold Olympic medals has developed into a tradition that we still see today. It was their way of testing the authenticity of their medals to see if it was solid gold.
In fact, the Olympic Gold medal was made of solid gold until the Stockholm Summer Olympic Games in 1912.
In 1920, after World War 2, the Olympic Games resumed in Belgium. However, solid gold Olympic medals have not returned since due to the shortage of gold after the war.
Bing Dwen Dwen
You may have noticed that some athletes are reaching the podium at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and receiving a panda toy instead of a medal. They will receive their medal eventually. It is just dependent on the event if they receive their medals at the venue or the medal plaza.
The Panda is the Beijing Winter Olympics official mascot Bing Dwen Dwen. “Bing” means ice and symbolises purity and strength, and “Dwen Dwen” represents children. “The mascot embodies the strength and willpower of athletes and will help to promote the Olympic spirit,” claims the official Olympics website.
Giant panda bears are native to China, where they are considered a national treasure. The Chinese traditionally regard the panda bear as a symbol of friendship and peace and has an important place in Chinese culture and history.
The 2022 Chinese Panda Coins features two baby pandas and pays tribute to the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.
