Tokyo Olympics to award medals made out of recycled materials

TOKYO: The Tokyo Olympic organisersunveiled the medals for the Tokyo Olympics 2020on July 24.The medalsfor the upcoming Olympic Games will be made up of recycled materials and not real metals.

In preparation to implement this sustainable innovation by the organizing committee a project named – Tokyo 2020 Medal Project was launched.Japanese people, between April 2017 and March 2019, donated their old electronics such as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, handheld games and more to the initiative, which was spearheaded by the Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. According to the official website of the Olympic Games, yellow coloured boxes for collection were placed in post offices and on street corners throughout the country.

Since early 2017, under the Tokyo 2020 Medal Project, the committee has gathered over 50,000 tons of electronic waste including more than 6 million cell phones in an effort to make the Games more sustainable.The committee sought to collect around 70 pounds of gold, 7,700 pounds of silver, and 4,850 pounds of bronzeall from various donated electronic waste to make approximately 5,000 medals for the next year’s Games. According to the official website of Olympic Games, the collected electronic waste was then dismantled and melted down by highly trained workers.

This isnot the first time that the Olympics’organisershas planned to use recycled materials for its prizes. Earlier, during the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, nearly 30 percent of the silver and bronze medals were derived from recyclables. Although, the officials organising Tokyo Olympics 2020 marks the Tokyo 2020 Medal Project as unique in its scale asit is the first time that citizens of a country have been proactively involved in donating the old electronic devices used to make the medals.

On one hand the Tokyo 2020 Medal Project was underway and on the other hand the committee was on feet to hunt talented artist to design the Olympic and Paralympic medals. In a search to find the best designer, a nation-wide competition for both professional designers and students studying design was organised.The committee received more than 400 entries, out of which Junichi Kawanishi, director of the Japan Sign Design Association and the Osaka Design Societywas awarded the honor by the selection panel. The winning design by Kawanishi, in the front, featured the Tokyo Olympic 2020 emblem—a chequered ring in the “ichimatsumoyo” pattern, which became popular during Japan’s Edo period—the name of the upcoming games (“Tokyo 2020”) and the Olympic’s enduring five-rings logo. On the other side was Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, in front of the Panatheniac stadium.

The selection panel said, “The medals resemble rough stones that have been polished and which now shine, with ‘light’ and ‘brilliance’ their overall themes. The medals collect and reflect myriad patterns of light, symbolising the energy of the athletes and those who support them; their design is intended to symbolise diversity and represent a world where people who compete in sports and work hard are honored. The brilliance of the medals’ reflections signifies the warm glow of friendship depicted by people all over the world holding hands.”

Ryohei Miyata, who chaired the board that chose Kawanishi’s design, said that the medals showcased Japanese metal moulding techniques. The medals will come on ribbons that use traditional Japanese chequered patterns and graphics that symbolises kimono layering techniques.

In accordance with that theme of friendship, four robotic versions of mascots ‘Miratowa’ for the Olympics and ‘Someity’ for the Paralympics will greet visitors at venues and shake their hands. The mascots were crowdsourced, too, chosen by more than 16,000 of the country’s elementary-school children.