The Olympic Games start in a week, and I'm really excited. Gymnastics and aquatics (swimming, diving, etc.) are my favorite events, but the other thing that I love about the Olympics is seeing how each host country adds elements of their culture to the games. One way they do this is through their medals.

Inspired by Chinese culture, this year's medals feature jade insets along with the familiar gold (in actuality, gold-plated silver), silver, or bronze metals. The global campaign to find a design for the Beijing games began in early 2006, and the final design was completed in early 2007. Read about the Beijing medals here.

If you want a refresher on what medals have looked like in the past, check them out here. I'm so impressed by the creativity that has gone into each medal design. The medal of the 2006 Torino, Italy, games was unusual because of its donut-like shape. The medal of the 1998 games in Nagano, Japan, featured lacquer, embossed gilding, and shippoyaki (a cloisonné technique). My favorite is the Lillehammer, Norway, medal from the 1994 Olympics, which uses granite for the main part of the medal, with a frame of metal surrounding the granite.
 

––Katie