The 2014 Olympic medals for Sochi are truly unique and feature a "Patchwork Quilt" - a mosaic of national designs from the various cultures and ethnicities of the Russian Federation. The medals depict the landscape of Sochi, with the sun's golden rays reflecting through a prism of snowy mountain tops onto the sandy beaches of the Black Sea coast. The medals are made by skilled craftsmen of the Moscow-based Adamas Jewelry Plant from a combination of metal and Lexan Margard MR5E polycarbonate sheet.The 2014 medals are being manufactured by the experts at Adamas, supplier and Russia's leading jeweler. Each medal takes up to 18 hours to create and the latest design and technology processes are used in the manufacturing process. Lexan Margard sheets are cut using a special tool with incoming cold air that reduces deformation. The process results in crystal look like feature that is used in each medal.
The Paralympic medals were designed in the same style. The front of Sochi's medals features the Olympic rings. The reverse side has the name of the competition in English and the Sochi logo. The official name of the games in Russian, English and French is engraved on the medal's rim. The meals also contain inscriptions in Braille for the visually impaired.
A record 1,300 medals are being manufactured for the Olympics and Paralympics and are 0.4 inches thick and 4 inches in diameter. The Olympic gold medals weigh 16 ounces. A total of 6.6 pounds of gold was used to make the medals, which are gold-plated.
