History Created at Medals Ceremony
23 May 2007
The 500 day countdown to the Games was marked by BHP Billiton joining the
Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) to
unveil the official medal designs for the Beijing Games.
The medals were unveiled at a ceremony attended by 300 guests, including 140
Chinese and international media. The winning design was produced by a team
from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, whose creative vision will
contribute to China’s Olympic legacy. With a blend of traditional Chinese
culture and Olympic heritage and inspired by ancient China’s “jade
bi”, the medals will be made of gold and jade. Featuring an engraved
dragon design, they will also symbolise nobility and virtue and embody the
traditional Chinese values of ethics and honour.
The medals design ceremony was televised live on China Central Television’s
Sports, International and News Channels and was broadcast on the station’s
website and the official BOCOG website.
The ceremony was the culmination of a medals design competition, which called
for entries from the public for the first time in Olympic history. BHP Billiton
sponsored the competition and saw BHP Billiton China President Clinton Dines
participate in the judging process, which attracted 265 entries.
BHP Billiton is also proud to support BOCOG in the medals design for the Paralympic
Games, which will take place in Beijing from September 6 - 17, 2008. The announcement
of the medals design for the Paralympics will take place in due course, with
a short-list of designs currently under review with the IOC.