Sochi Olympic Medals to Contain Meteorite Fragments
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Sasha Mordovets/Getty Images(SOCHI, Russia) — Select winners at the Sochi Winter Olympics will receive medals embedded with meteorite fragments in commemoration of the 2013 Chelyabinsk meteor crash.
Special medals will be given out to 10 gold medallists on Feb. 15, which marks one year since the space rock crashed into a lake in central Russia, the BBC reports. Each will contain a meteorite chip in its center and have a protective nickel coating.
In addition to the 10 handed out during the games, 40 more medals will be sold to private collectors. Specialists at a workshop in the Chelyabinsk area are responsible for creating the items.
The meteorite slammed into a lake in Russia’s Urals region in 2013, injuring more than 1,000 people and damaging the surrounding area.
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