Mount Currie's Elainah Andrew was front and centre Thursday (Oct. 15) to help unveil the design of the Olympic and Paralympic medals that the world's best athletes will push themselves to the limit for come February and March.

Andrew, a 10-year-old Signal Hill Elementary School student and multitalented athlete who trains and competes with the youth luge program at the Whistler Sliding Centre, said the medals were “very heavy” when she unveiled and held them at Thursday morning's ceremony.

“They're a unique shape, it's not flat (but) curved around the circle, and they're shiny. Every medal was different,” graced with individual images that form a complete work of art, Andrew told The Question Thursday afternoon.

“I got to hold them, it was cool,” she said, adding that “hopefully” she may win one herself some day.

The wavy, hefty medals, each of which features a unique element from two works of contemporary Aboriginal art, have so far drawn rave reviews from athletes and officials alike. Weighing between 500 and 576 grams each, among the heaviest baubles in Games history, the Olympic and Paralympic medals bear artistic elements from two larger works by Corrine Hunt, a Vancouver-based artist of Komoyue and Tlingit heritage.

Each Olympic medal will include a unique, hand-cropped section from Hunt's work of art depicting an orca whale, and each Paralympic medal will have a section from her artwork depicting a raven.

Each triumphant, medal-winning athlete will receive a silk scarf of the master works of art to show how their section fits with the whole and all the medals awarded.

The undulating look of the medals – another Games first – is attributable to Vancouver industrial designer and architect Omer Arbel, whose knowledge of materials and fabrication processes has been happily married with Hunt's artistic creations for the medals project. In the 30-step fabrication process, the medals are struck nine times each to create their distinctive wavy appearances.

Jill Bakken, an American bobsledder who won gold at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, said a Games medal is “a cherished possession” for any athlete, one they all strive for in their training and competition.

“To feel it being placed around your neck on the podium, or seeing children's eyes light up when you show it to them, are experiences that defy words. Seeing these beautiful medals today makes me wish I was competing again in 2010,” Bakken said in a statement from Vancouver Olympic and Paralympic organizers (VANOC).

The circular Olympic medals are 100 millimetres in diameter and about six millimetres thick, while the Paralympic medals are 95 millimetres wide and of the same thickness with a squared-circle shape.

With 615 Olympic and 399 Paralympic medals to be manufactured, the Royal Canadian Mint started making the coveted prizes in July 2009 and will finish in November. Vancouver-based Teck Resources supplied the composite metals from their mining and smelting operations in Canada, Alaska, Chile and Peru.

Andrew had the chance to connect with luminaries such as Bakken and Premier Gordon Campbell at the ceremony, and Bakken gave the rising luge star some tips.

“I might try bobsled when I'm old enough,” Andrew said. But in this upcoming luge season, she added, her goal is to go faster than 100 kilometres per hour – so far her personal-best speed is 97.
Andrew was chosen for the ceremony after the B.C. Luge Association nominated her.