Beijing unveils unique design for 2008 Olympic medals

BEIJING: Winners at the 2008 Beijing Olympics will receive unique metal-jade combined medals with traditional Chinese characteristics.

The Beijing Organising Committee for the Games (BOCOG) unveiled the medal design at a ceremony held at the Capital Museum of China to mark the 500-day countdown for the world's most prestigious sporting event.

The front of the medals follows the standard design set by the International Olympic Committee, while the back is inlaid with 'bi', a Chinese traditional flat jade disc with a circular hole in the centre, and includes a metal centre-piece engraved with the Beijing Olympic emblem.

The design of the medal hooks is derived from China's traditional semi-circular jade ornament, and features a double dragon design and a grid pattern.

"Noble and elegant, the Beijing Olympic medal is a blending of traditional Chinese culture and the Olympism," BOCOG executive vice president Jiang Xiaoyu said.

Created by a group formed by the China Central Academy of Fine Arts and the China Banknote Printing and Minting Corporation, the medal design was picked from 179 entries that BOCOG received in a world-wide competition.

"I think the medals design is an image that is both immediately Chinese in its form and embodies the traditional style of the Olympic medal," said the President of BHP Billiton China Clinton Dines, the diversified minerals and medals sponsor of the 2008 Games.

"It is a truly East-meets-West emblem of an event that embodies China's economic and national achievements in recent years and emergence onto the global stage," Dines said.