BEIJING: Beijing organizers took possession of the 3,000 medals for next month's Olympics in a ceremony near Tiananmen Square on Thursday, 36 days before the start of the Games.
The medals were the first for an Olympics to be designed by the winners of a public competition and each has a distinctive inlay of jade, which represents beauty, nobility, perfection, power and immortality to the Chinese.
"These exquisite medals represent the ultimate expression of athletic achievement," organizing committee vice president Jiang Xiaoyu said. "The unique design represents the ambition of the Beijing Olympic Games."
Jiang also took symbolic possession of the 3,000 medals for September's Paralympics from Australian mining company BHP Billiton, who sponsored the medals for both Games.
