A specially selected team of designers, technicians and craftsmen, who have been testing and refining the minting process to ensure every medal produced meets highly exacting specifications, will produce around 4,700 medals which will be awarded during the 805 Victory Ceremonies

Taking around ten hours in total to complete, each medal will be struck 15 times with 900 tonnes of weight on a special press.

After each first five strikes the medals are slowly rolled through a 750 degree furnace to soften the metal allowing the designs to be replicated perfectly.

The designs for both the Olympic and Paralympic medals were unveiled earlier this year.


The Olympic medals have been designed by British artist David Watkins (pictured above with Jonathan Edwards) and the Paralympic medals by practising Jewellery artist and senior lecturer in Jewellery Design at Central Saint Martin's College of Arts and Design, Lin Cheung.

"It's great to see businesses across the UK benefiting from the Games and I'm absolutely delighted that the Olympic and Paralympic medals for the Victory Ceremonies are being made in South Wales," said Paul Deighton, the chief executive of London 2012. 

The ore for the medals is supplied by London 2012 sponsor Rio Tinto and is mined at Rio Tinto's Kennecott Utah Copper Mine near Salt Lake City in America, as well as from the Oyu Tolgoi project in Mongolia.

"We are immensely proud and honoured to be able to strike the Olympic and Paralympic medals," said Adam Lawrence, the chief executive of the Royal Mint.

"More than 800 local people are employed by the Royal Mint, and now each one will be able to tell their children and grandchildren that they - and South Wales -  had a hand in creating a piece of Olympic history."

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