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VENICE — The Milan-Cortina Olympics are the first games with two host cities in the name. So the medals for the upcoming Winter Games represent "two halves coming together."
Organizers for the next Olympics and Paralympics unveiled the medals for the games at a ceremony alongside the Grand Canal in Venice on Tuesday.
They are described as "a graphic abstraction capturing the union of two halves in perpetual motion" and "two unique halves coming together to create a bold, unified statement."
They feature the Olympic rings on one side and the games' logos on the other with specific events engraved on each medal.
The Olympics are scheduled for Feb. 6-22, followed by the Paralympics March 6-15. A total of 1,146 medals will be awarded across 195 events between the two.
The games will be spread across a wide swath of northern Italy, with ice sports in Milan and snow sports in several different mountain clusters. Venice is the capital of the Veneto region that includes Cortina d'Ampezzo, which will host women's Alpine skiing, sliding and curling.
The medals are being produced by Italy's state mint, the Zecca dello Stato.
"I can assure you they won't deteriorate," Milan-Cortina organizing committee president Giovanni Malagò said. "They could even be recycled, although I hope nobody will do that."
Some of the medals from last year's Paris Olympics quickly lost their shine.
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