"Game Over": Top athletes react to the Paris 2024 medals
All athletes dream of an Olympic or Paralympic medal, but now that the Paris 2024 hardware has been unveiled, they no longer have to imagine. The goal is now clear: to have these medals hang from their necks in Paris. Discover what stars Yulimar Rojas, Ivana Spanovic and more have to say about the newest Olympic medals.
"I am gonna pass out". "Game over". "I'm bringing Paris🥇to his forever home".
Serbian athletics star Ivana Spanovic, bronze medallist in long jump at Rio 2016, now has an even clearer goal for the Olympic Games Paris 2024 after the medals were unveiled on 8 February. Of course, the moment to pass out is now, not after 26 July when the Opening Ceremony will officially inaugurate the next Olympic Games.
The coveted Olympic medals seem to have even more value than ever, not only because of their magnificent and exceptional secret (they will be adorned with a hexagonal iron piece of iron from the original Eiffel Tower), but because of the reactions of athletes around the world the first time they saw them.
Less than six months ahead of Paris 2024, get to know how the design of the medals has made athletes fall in love with them, and the traditional gold, silver and bronze hardware that now has a concrete shape in their dreams.
Olympic Qualification Tournaments and upcoming competitions are now more important than ever
Some of the athletes who dream of the medals have already obtained a quota for either themselves or their NOCs and will have a shot at taking one home from Paris.
However, the medal reveal has added even more motivation to the athletes still fighting for an Olympic quota.
The Doha 2024 World Aquatics Championships are part of the qualifying processes for Paris for five different sports: swimming, marathon swimming, diving, water polo and artistic swimming.
The Olympic medals were so awe-inducing that even World Aquatics had time to post about them: "Look at these beauties".
Sharon van Rouwendaal - a marathon swimmer who just added to her extensive tally of golds with two more in the 5km and 10km at Worlds in Doha - reacted to the Olympic medals by commenting "😍😍" on the post. She’s got her eyes on that gold.
South African swimmer Tatjana Schoenmaker, current Olympic champion in 200m breaststroke, was also lost for words, but not for emotions. She posted the word "Wow" not once, but three times, showing what she thinks of the medals that she dreams of taking home from the French capital.
The young prospect Osmar Olvera, who not only became the world champion in the 1 metre springboard, but also took the bronze in 3 metre springboard and helped Mexico obtain quotas to Paris in all male diving events, had an even simpler response. He posted an Instagram story with the image of the new medals. No words accompanied it.
But perhaps there are none needed, as his performances speak for themselves. He’s definitely after those medals.
Golden love
The Olympic medals are something that many athletes say they are chasing... but is there a fine line between what you want and what you love?
In case there is a difference, Paralympic superstar and four-time gold medallist Markus Rehm dropped a comment in a post about the Paralympic gold medal saying: "Love it!!!😍." The picture did not include the silver or the bronze… Rehm knows what he's pining for.
The golden love is spread among other sports stars, and Italiy's Tokyo 2020 taekwondo champion Vito Dell'Aquila knows what gold tastes like. He posted an image of the three medals, adding "Wow."
Another superstar who has an unbreakable relationship with gold medals is Yulimar Rojas. The Queen of the Triple Jump, who won gold in style at the last edition of the Games by breaking the Olympic record, posted an image of the gold medal, speaking to it directly: "Eres tan hermosa" (You are so beautiful).
Athletes aiming to win gold at home
If these unique medals, which contain a piece of the Eiffel Tower, have an incalculable value for all athletes, imagine how priceless they are for someone from France.
Wheelchair tennis player Pauline Déroulède has made clear where she would like the medals to remain, saying: "We want to make sure those pieces of the Eiffel Tower stay at home."
Leon Marchand, swimming superstar and one of France's biggest medal hopefuls, also posted about the medals using the emojis: "😍🥺" What do they mean? Only he knows...
Everyone wants an Olympic medal - but even more after the sensation they are creating. The truth is the only ones who will ever get to take them home and wear them with pride are the athletes.