For Rio 2016, the Paralympics introduced a cool way to help visually impaired athletes identify their medals. Inside each medal are steel balls that produce sound when shaken -- gold gives out the loudest sound, while bronze gives out the quietest.
Paralympic medals now have a clever design to help visually impaired athletes identify them
It was an idea that came from a “eureka moment” from designer Claudia Gamboa, and it was something her team wholeheartedly supported:
“We wanted to begin a new way to celebrate on the podium,” Reis said, as he showed off the medals and shook them. “Usually [athletes] bite the medal, and now we want that they make this movement.”
You can hear the medals as they’re being shaken, thanks to this video from Public Radio International:
This is such an awesome idea, and judging from the Instagram post above, the athletes definitely approve of it.
