‘Hidden feature’ allows visually impaired athletes to identify Paralympic medals by sound

Rio Paralympic medals can be identified by sound as well as sight, in the hope of making it easy for all athletes to identify them.

Each of the 2642 Paralympic medals contains a device with tiny steel balls that, when shaken, makes a distinctive sound identifying whether they are gold, silver or bronze.

The special medals were first revealed back in June, but have today attracted thousands of likes after they were shared on the official Olympics Instagram account.

The bronze medals contain 16 steel balls which make a soft sound, while the silver medals contain 20 balls and the gold medals 28, which produce the loudest noise.

They also feature the text “Rio 2016 Paralympic Games” written in Braille on their surface, and pebble shapes symbolising seeds, “representing the courage, persistence and development of athletes”.

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