Designed by British artist David Watkins, around 4,700 gold, silver and bronze medals are being made in South Wales. They will be presented at 800 victory ceremonies before the national anthems (all recorded by the London Philharmonic Orchestra) will be played. Weighing around 400g, each medal features the Greek goddess of victory, Nike, on one side, and the Olympic Games logo on the other.
The British Muesum is currently playing host to a few of the gold medals that will be awarded during the London 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games. The giant circles of metal glisten as their prestige dictates they should. They look big. They look heavy. They look awesome!
Accompanying the display are the some of the equipment used to forge the medals as well as cabinet detailing London’s history with the Olympic Games.
They may be in a glass cabinet, but this is still likely to be the closest any of us get to such a special and historic medal. My only piece of advice would be to get there in the morning before peoples grubby hand prints have blurred the glorious clarity of the medals themselves.
