Winter Olympic medals make highly anticipated debut

Inspired by Chinese jade ornaments, the official medals of the Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games made an impressive debut on Tuesday,100 days from the start of the gala event.

After months of anticipation and secrecy, the Beijing 2022 organizing committee introduced the medals of the Games - dubbed "tongxin", which means togetherness - to a rousing reaction from sports celebrities, artists and public representatives during a ceremony on Tuesday to celebrate the 100-day countdown to the opening of the Games on Feb 4.

At 8:30 pm, when the countdown clock reached 100 days, Vice-Premier Han Zheng, together with China's first Winter Olympic gold medalist Yang Yang and Olympic champion swimmer Zhang Yufei, unveiled a set of gold, silver and bronze medals out of a showcase modeled as a pile of ice bricks, putting an international spotlight on the glittering metal discs that represent the ultimate dreams of winter sports athletes.

Inspired by the exquisite "yubi", an ancient Chinese jade artifact dating back some 5,000 years, each medal features carvings of the Olympic rings at its heart on the front with the words "XXIV Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022" etched around them. Engravings of cloud patterns, an element used on the torch of the 2008 Summer Games, snowflakes and ice scratches fill the outer rings.

The concentric rings around the center represent the pursuit of unity and harmony common in Chinese culture, while echoing the Olympic values of promoting solidarity, inclusiveness and peace among mankind.

The reverse side bears the Beijing 2022 emblem at the center, with the outer rings dotted with 24 stars strung together by circles, representing the 24th edition of the Winter Olympics and featuring the name of the medal event.

Sharing the same design with slight changes, the 2022 Paralympic Winter Games medals were also unveiled on Tuesday, with the International Paralympic Committee's logo carved on the obverse side and the Beijing 2022 Paralympic emblem on the reverse.

"Hopefully, by enriching the Winter Olympic elements with Chinese characteristics we could leave a Chinese mark on the promotion of Olympic spirit and build more excitement toward the opening of the Games," said Cai Qi, secretary of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China and president of the Beijing 2022 organizing committee.