By Nick Butler

Slovakian winner Matej Čička celebrates winning the Nanjing 2014 medal designing competition ©Getty ImagesDecember 20 - A "modern, fresh and dynamic" design by 23-year old Slovak Mataj Čička has been announced as the winner of the competition to design medals to be used at next year's Summer Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing.


His winning concept, entitled "Track of Winners", was chosen by a prestigious International Olympic Committee (IOC) jury who from across the globe who came together to judge over 300 entries from more than 50 countries

The jury included designer Thomas Heatherwick, designer of the Cauldron at the London 2012 Olympic Games, IOC Olympic Games executive director Gilbert Felli and former fencer and IOC Athletes' Commission chair Claudia Bokel.

Other sporting figures made up the six strong panel and consisted of France's Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic gold medal winning 400 metre hurdler Aurélie Chaboudez, China's two-time Olympic short-track speed skating champion Yang Yang, and Russia's pole vault superstar and Nanjing 2014 ambassador Yelena Isinbayeva.

Pole vault world champion Yelena Isinbayeva is a Games ambassador and was on the judging panel for the medal design competition ©AFP/Getty ImagesRussia's pole vault world champion Yelena Isinbayeva is a Games ambassador and was on the judging panel for the medal design competition ©AFP/Getty Images


The online competition was launched in September and invited fans all over the world to "get inspired by the Olympic values and share in the Youth Olympic Games spirit" by submitting their designs. 

The winning design will feature on the face of the gold, silver and bronze medals awarded in Nanjing - while Čička's prize also includes a trip to the Games, tickets to the Opening Ceremony and a full collection of the medals featuring their design.

"It was our school task to join this competition and design a medal, so I drew a lot of sketches and spoke with a teacher to choose the best one." he said.

"I was inspired by the athletes' track which, to me, means the base of the Youth Olympic Games.

"So I put it into my concept and used different shapes to represent the winning athletes and the podium, and finally I called it 'The Track of Winners'."

The panel also selected two runner-up designs, with 29-year old Spaniard Hugo Fernández, and another Slovak in 28-year old Csaba Szitas being awarded second and third place respectably. 

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September 2013: Competition launched to "make Olympic history" and design medals for Nanjing 2014