You may have noticed winners in Rio holding up their medals to their ears and there’s a very good reason for it. The Rio 2016 organizing committee has introduced a new feature to the medals that is aimed at Paralympic medal winners looking and sounding like champions. Yes, that’s because when the gold, silver and bronze medals for the special 2016 games in Rio are shaken, each of them makes a different noise.
For the first time ever, the medals for the 2016 Rio Games are filled with tiny steel balls each with a different noise when shaken. Also, all of the medals also feature ‘Rio 2016 Paralympic Games’ written on them in Braille enabling the visually impaired athletes to feel the victory.
According to the official website of Rio 2016, each of the 2,642 medals (877 gold, 876 silver, 889 bronze) has a device inside that uses tiny steel balls to make a sound when they are shaken, allowing visually impaired athletes to identify which color they are.
While the bronze medal consists of 16 tiny steel balls, making the lowest sound, the silver medals have 20 balls and the golds have 28, producing the loudest noise. Paralympic medals make distinctive rattle noises so blind athletes know whether they have won gold, silver or bronze.
A representative for the games told PRI that athletes have been referring to the rattling of the medal as the “sound of victory.”
Hidden feature In Paralympic Medals:
In addition to the medals, each medallist will also receive a doll of mascot Tom with gold, silver or bronze hair.
In 15th Summer Paralympic Games, 4,300 athletes with disabilities from 159 countries are competing. This could be considered another legacy of Rio 2016.