2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games medals unveiled

They’re heavy, wavy and collectively worth about $1.8 million based on current metal prices. But 2010 Olympic athletes who win the first nations-designed medals unveiled Thursday will call them priceless.

“You want the Olympic medal to be totally different and you want to be surprised by it and these do just that,” former Canadian Olympian and 2010 chef de mission Nathalie Lambert said after the medals were revealed at Vancouver Olympic village.

B.C. aboriginal artist Corrine Hunt and Vancouver-based designer Omer Arbel worked together for 18 months to create medals with contemporary first nations artworks and undulating surfaces — both firsts in Games history.

Each medal has a design based on a unique hand-cropped section of two master artworks — depicting an orca whale and a raven — making every medal one-of-a-kind.

“We know how hard the athletes work and we wanted to make something really extraordinary for them,” Hunt said. “We wanted unique medals to represent the unique nature of each athlete.”

The undulating medal design, created by Arbel, represents the waves, mountains and drifting snow found throughout Canada.

Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee CEO John Furlong said International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge was clearly impressed with the medals when he saw them recently in Switzerland.

“The beaming smile on his face was the validation that we wanted,” he said.

Furlong said designers wanted the medals to be “substantial” and they are — weighing between 500 and 576 grams each, among the heaviest medals in Games history at more than one pound apiece. Medals awarded at the Calgary Olympics in 1988 weighed between 106 and 252 grams.

Official metals supplier Teck Resources provided 2.05 kg of gold (for plating gold medals), 1,950 kg of silver and 903 kg of copper to produce 615 Olympic and 399 Paralympic medals for the 2010 Games.

The metal came from Teck operations in B.C., Ontario, Newfoundland, Alaska, Peru and Chile. A small portion of the metal — less than one per cent — came from recycled consumer electronics products like cellphones and computers.

The Olympic medals are circular, while the Paralympic medals are a superellipse, or squared circle, with Vancouver 2010 written in Braille on the back. They were produced in Ottawa by the Royal Canadian Mint.

The medals’ durable blue, white and green ribbons, made of synthetic material, carry the words Vancouver 2010 and the Games motto, With Glowing Hearts, in both official languages.

RCM design coordinator Renato Romozzi said the undulating surface created unique problems in the production process, especially when using lasers to etch the artwork into the medals.

“Lasers work so smooth and easy on flat surfaces, but on an undulating surface, you have to control the intensity of the laser at all levels and that is so hard,” he said.

Romozzi said the unique artwork and uneven surface created a “mini-journey” for the Mint, with lots of ups and downs in the beginning. Medals were struck nine times each to achieve their distinctive look.

“Every medal was struck individually and you can imagine 1,900 tonnes coming down on a blank and this material just starts to flow everywhere,” he said.

A silk scarf printed with the master artwork will be presented to each medal-winning Olympian or Paralympian, along with a heathered wool felt carrying case.

Hunt credited late Vanoc design director Leo Obstbaum for being the “catalyst” that brought everything together in the medal design process. Obstbaum died suddenly this summer at age 40.

Vanoc asked Hunt and Arbel to pool their creative talents after they submitted separate proposals that both contained compelling elements — with Hunt’s artwork and Arbel’s undulating design.

Lambert, who won short track speed skating medals for Canada at three different Olympics, said 2010 Games athletes will use the new medals as a strong motivator.

“If they visualize themselves with a medal, that medal now has a look and an identity and a signature,” she said. “I’m pretty sure a lot of them will download a picture and put it in their training diary or on their fridge and show it to their family and friends.”

bconstantineau@vancouversun.com