Vancouver unveils medals ... jury still out on design
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Organizers proudly revealed the medals today for the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver and the description was naturally enthusiastic:’The medals, revealed today, each feature a different crop of larger contemporary Aboriginal artworks and are undulating rather than flat -- both firsts in Games history. The dramatic form of the Vancouver 2010 medals is inspired by the ocean waves, drifting snow and mountainous landscape found in the Games region and throughout Canada. The Olympic medals are circular in shape, while the Paralympic medals are a superellipse, or squared circle.’
A couple of random thoughts. Whenever you can get the word undulating in a release, it’s impressive. Let’s put it this way ... that word doesn’t make its way into NBA copy very often. And if it did, a phone call from an editor would probably follow.
After a morning of looking at images of the medals, and two cups of coffee later, I am still not sure whether I like the look. But the viewpoint of a junior high art-class laggard hardly matters and, quite frankly, no athlete is going to quibble with the quality of appearance of a gold medal.
Colleague Ron Judd, columnist at the Seattle Times, summed it up quite nicely on his Twitter feed this morning: ‘Vancouver 2010 medals display traditional native 45-RPM-record-left-on-dashboard-in-sun design.’
He probably got all A’s in art class.
-- Lisa Dillman
