By Rebecca Ryser
The medals for the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Games were unveiled the morning of Monday, Oct. 15.
The medals will take on an original design for the Games. All medals are smooth and irregularly shaped to look like river rocks that might be found in Utah''s natural environment.
'It doesn''t look like a coin. Instead it is a work of art,' said Mitt Romney, president and CEO of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee.
The 2002 Olympic theme, 'Light the Fire Within,' is the first Olympic theme to be engraved into an Olympic medal, Romney said.
The medals are tactile, said Scott Givens, managing director of the creative group at SLOC. They are like 3-D sculptures.
O.C. Tanner, the company making the medals, is headquartered in Salt Lake.
'We are so proud to be involved in making the medals,' said Kent Murdock, president and CEO of O.C. Tanner.
The design of the medals 'represents Utah, it represents the West, and it represents the athletes perfectly,' he said.
Besides Murdock, Romney and Givens, others including Governor Michael Leavitt, Mayor Rocky Anderson and O.C. Tanner employees were in attendance at the unveiling.
'O.C. Tanner is absolutely the best,' Romney said.
Mindy Graham, project manager at O.C. Tanner, said the Olympic medals symbolize athletic achievement.
'We have created something that people work their entire life for,' she said.
Murdock said the medals have been made to perfection.
The medals will 'stand for courage, for the best of the human spirit and for world peace. There may never have been a time when the world needed more to have an event that will transcend politics,' Leavitt said.
They are the heaviest medals in history, Givens said.
The front of the medals depicts an athlete carrying a torch, representing the Olympic spirit, bursting from flames.
The Olympic rings support the athlete at the bottom of the medal.
The back of the medal depicts Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, holding a victory leaf given at the ancient Olympic Games, Romney said.
The medal varies for each sport with 16 different artist renderings, another first in Olympic history.
'Salt Lake 2002' and the name of the event are etched on the back of the medal.
At the base of the ring loop is the Roman numeral XIX, signifying the 19th Olympic Winter Games.
The 1.25 pound gold medals are made with 6 grams of gold, and a sterling silver base.
The figure on the medals emerging from the rocks, 'is carrying the flame from the heart out of the mountains to the heart of the athletes,' Givens said.
Metal for the Olympic medals came solely from Kennecott Copper Mine in Utah.
There will be 239 gold, silver and bronze medals, totaling 717 medals for the Games.
Each medal requires about 15 processes and at least 18.45 hours of handcrafting.
One thousand tons of pressure, more than five times the weight of the Statue of Liberty, were used to transfer the medal designs to the metal.
The ribbon on the medals can be removed to protect it from soiling when it is used for public view.
As a gift to each of the medal winners, each Olympian will receive a walnut box, made at O.C. Tanner, with a place for the medal on the right side, and a certificate with the athlete''s name and the date of the event in gold, silver or bronze ink, Romney said.
The medals were designed by Brent Watts, creative director of Axiom, and his team from Axiom, and SLOC''s creative team including Scott Givens; Libby Hyland, director of creative services and Ron Stucki, design manager.