The Olympic and Paralympic medals for Paris 2024 were unveiled on Thursday at the headquarters of the Paris 2024 Organising Committee. Each medal contains a very special piece of metal, once part of the Eiffel Tower.

President of the Paris 2024 Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games and 3-time Olympic slalom canoe champion Tony Estanguet attends an unveiling presentation for the Paris 2024 medals in Saint-Denis, near Paris, France, Feb. 8, 2024.

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

Every medal awarded at this year’s Olympics and Paralympics in Paris will contain a hexagon made of iron taken from the Eiffel Tower

In a nod to 2024, the Eiffel Tower is seen in the background, along with the Acropolis.

The other side is different. The Olympic medals feature the goddess of victory, Nike, emerging from the Panathenaic Stadium, where the Olympic Games were revived in 1896

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

The hexagons, stamped with “Paris 2024” and the logo of the Games, will be set into the medal with claws shaped like the Eiffel Tower’s rivets, using a technique similar to that employed to affix precious gemstones in jewelry. Ridges of radiating lines that are designed to reflect light, a nod to Paris’ nickname as the City of Light, surround the hexagons.