In the 2020 Olympic Games, 80,000 tons of mobile phones and small electronic devices around Japan were used in the crafting of every gold, silver and bronze Olympic and Paralympic medal awarded to athletes.

     The 2024 Olympic medals include a special part of Parisian history. Each Olympic medal will be infused with iron from the original Eiffel Tower, which was built for the 1889 World’s Fair. The pieces of iron were cut from parts of the tower that were replaced during renovations over the years and saved. To create these medals, the Olympics recruited Chaumet, a French luxury jewelry maker to infuse 18 grams of iron from the Eiffel Tower into other materials made from silver, gold and bronze.  Winning athletes in both the Paris Paralympics and Olympics will receive these unique creations.

Spark your math thinking!

1. Set up your math mini spark recording page: #71: Olympic Medals
2. Read this article containing 5 facts about the 2024 games in Paris.  Create a note taking page and include any interesting details you come across in the article.
3. Read about the recycling project from the 2020 Olympics at: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/07/24/tokyo-2020-olympic-medal-project-recycled-cellphones-electronics/1820927001/ Make a Pic Collage highlighting  the numbers in the article.
4. Read about the 2020 Olympic Medal design at: https://tokyo2020.org/en/games/medals/olympic-design/ Be sure to watch the embedded video on the page https://youtu.be/uOo_gFjECIQ.  Record what you have learned.
5. View the history of Olympic Medals at: https://www.olympic.org/olympic-medals Pick 5 different years and compare the medals from those years (designer, composition, diameter, and mint).  Display your findings in a creative manner.
6. Dive in deeper to the 2024 medal creation process and learn more about the design at this Olympics 2024 website.
7.  Share your math mini spark recording page with your teacher/EY coordinator.