Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The designs for the medals to be awarded at the Beijing Olympic Games were unveiled yesterday at a ceremony marking the 500-day countdown to next year's Games. Winning athletes will receive medals inlaid with jade and dragon patterns engraved on it at next year’s Olympics.
The medals follow the standard design prescribed by the International Olympic Committee with an image of the winged goddess of victory Nike and the Panathinaikos Arena on one side. But the 2008 medals will also have delicate dragon patterns representing the Beijing Olympic Games engraved on the other.
After three months, the winning design was selected out of 179 submissions from China and around the world, including Italy, with the choice falling on distinctly Chinese symbols, the dragon and jade, a stone associated with nobility and elegance.
The union of jade and metal is particularly meaningful in Chinese culture.
Jiang Xiaoyu, vice-president of the Beijing Organising Committee for the 2008 Olympic Games (Bocog), described the jade and metal design as a perfect blend of traditional Chinese culture and the Olympic spirit.
Central Academy of Fine Arts president Jin Shangyi, who was also a member of the committee that oversaw the selection process, called the design an excellent combination of Eastern and Western cultures.
“The Olympic Games have never used a stone in their medal design before, so this one will surely leave a uniquely Chinese mark on the Olympic Games,” Mr Jin said.
Most online comments agreed that the jade and metal concept successfully connected the Chinese culture and the spirit of the Olympic Games.
There were also a few, however, who felt that jade was not ideal for a victory medal because jade does not last well compared with metal.