Today, The Verge reported the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee successfully collected enough ‘e-waste’ to extract the precious metals needed, and now announced the Olympic medal design. The medals‘ designer is by Junichi Kawanishi, who won a competition that drew entries from more than 400 professional designers and design students.
The medals are 85 mm in diameter. The thinnest is 7.7 mm and the thickest is 12.1 mm. The gold medal is gold plated with more than 6 grams of sterling silver. The silver medal uses sterling silver. And the bronze medal uses a red brass alloy consisting of 95% copper and 5% zinc. The International Olympic Committee stipulates that the design of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games should include certain information. The latter should include the iconic five-ring logo and the official name of the Olympic Games. Plus, the Greek goddess of victory in front of the Panathinnik Stadium should appear on it.
The design is ’ intended to symbolize diversity and represent a world where people who compete in sports and work hard are honored.’
According to the Kyodo News Agency, the Japanese government started the collection of used smartphone appliances in April 2017. As of the end of the collection in March this year, local governments in Japan recovered about 78,900 tons of small household appliances. Japanese telecom operator NTT Docomo recovered about 6.2 million smartphones from more than 2,000 stores. The refined gold is about 32 kg, the silver is about 3,500 kg, and the copper is about 2,200 kg.
The organizers also said four different robots will also be in operation at venues. They include new versions of mascots Miraitowa and Someity. They will be able to wave, shake hands and greet visitors.