Rio Paralympics has release medals for visually impaired athletes for the first time
The special medals are designed with small metal balls that will aid visually-impaired athletes to know if it was a gold, silver or bronze medal. In addition the medals will produce different sounds when shaken, allowing visually impaired athletes to identify which colour they are.
The bronze medal will contain 16 steel balls and make the lowest sound. By comparison, the gold and silver medals will contain 28 and 20 balls respectively according to Metro UK
“The bronze medals have 16 steel balls and make the lowest sound. The silver medals have 20 balls and the golds have 28, producing the loudest noise. All of the medals also have the words ‘Rio 2016 Paralympic Games’ written on them Braille.” according to a statement released by Rio Olympic organizers
In addition the medals will have 30 percent recycled materials and their ribbons made from recycled plastic bottles. The Podiums are also made of recycled materials as part of the Rio organizer’s push for environmental friendly products.They will be made from organic materials and celebrate the tropical nature of Brazil plus they will be reused as furniture after the Games.
A total of 2,488 medals will be given during the Rio Olympics, with 812 of those gold, 812 silver and 864 bronze.
Rio winners will not be given flowers as is the norm, but will get a small wooden sculpture of the Rio Olympics logo.
“But with nearly 2,500 eventual Rio medal winners out there, the idea of producing hundreds of tons of single-use flowers doesn’t exactly square with ideals of environmental responsibility(since Olympics organizers are all about environmental sustainability).” States Jay Busbee for Yahoo Sports
Each medalist winner at the world event will receive a doll of mascot Tom with gold, silver or bronze hair. The mascot is…
“I am the Olympic Games mascot, a mixture of all the Brazilian animals. I was born out of the explosion of joy that happened when they announced that Rio would host the Olympic Games, on 2 October 2009.” according to Rio website
