# Who decided to award CDs to Olympic athletes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 24, 2006, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decided-to-award-cds-to-olympic-athletes/345973 "2006-02-24T20:18:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decided-to-award-cds-to-olympic-athletes/345973/1 "2006-02-24T20:18:12Z")
Who came up with the design for the Winter Olympic medals? It looks like something a third grader would make in arts class out of a CD, gold foil and ribbon. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decided-to-award-cds-to-olympic-athletes/345973/2 "2006-02-24T20:34:25Z")
… you mean they’re not CD’s? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decided-to-award-cds-to-olympic-athletes/345973/3 "2006-02-24T20:57:08Z")
[The “official” story](http://www.olympic.org/uk/news/olympic_news/full_story_uk.asp?id=1575): > [@](#): > > The medal is round with an empty space at the centre, representing the Italian piazza. . . . The medal is also round like the Olympic rings or a symbolic victory ring and, with its open space at its centre, it reveals the place where the heart beats, the symbol of life itself. I would say the real answer is that they wanted something distinctive and figured the donut would work. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decided-to-award-cds-to-olympic-athletes/345973/4 "2006-02-24T21:02:01Z")
Metal shortage! ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decided-to-award-cds-to-olympic-athletes/345973/5 "2006-02-24T21:10:18Z")
It sure makes it easier to hook the ribbon bit on, doesn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decided-to-award-cds-to-olympic-athletes/345973/6 "2006-02-24T21:42:18Z")
Unlike many previous medal designs, these are at least _really_ shiny. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decided-to-award-cds-to-olympic-athletes/345973/7 "2006-02-24T22:38:37Z")
> [@](#): > > The medal is round with an empty space at the centre, representing the Italian piazza. . . Please tell me I’m not the only person who misread that and wondered, “Huh, why would they make them with holes in the middle like that?” ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decided-to-award-cds-to-olympic-athletes/345973/8 "2006-02-24T22:46:10Z")
Just glad to hear it’s not only me. First cerimony I saw: “Look honey, a better use for an AOL disk than microwave oven hijinx” ---
**Author:** ![sinjin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sinjin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinjin)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decided-to-award-cds-to-olympic-athletes/345973/9 "2006-02-24T23:57:11Z")
I’m sorry, you’re all suffering from the same misconception: they are not CD’s. It’s obvious to the most casual observer\* that they are GIANT washers. \*Any engineer could have told you that. Sinjin, ducks and covers in case pizzabrat comes in to take a peek. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Crandolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Crandolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crandolph)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2006, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decided-to-award-cds-to-olympic-athletes/345973/10 "2006-02-25T04:10:08Z")
Just in case any athlete swallows one perpendicular to their throat they can still breathe. (This was the reason a couple American friends and I were given by Danes several years back as to why Danish coins had the holes in the middle, only applied to children not athletes… we bought it at first too…) ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2006, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-decided-to-award-cds-to-olympic-athletes/345973/11 "2006-02-25T07:49:09Z")
> [@Inigo Montoya](#): > > Please tell me I’m not the only person who misread that and wondered, “Huh, why would they make them with holes in the middle like that?” You are not only not the only one, a few days ago a friend earnestly tried to convince me that pizzas-with-holes were a beloved local variation in Torino, source of much regional pride, and that’s why the medals have holes in them… I believe we may have been witness to the birth of a new factoid. A little more plot and a few coats of paint, and it might even become an urban legend.