Vice President of the Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) Jiang Xiaoyu (L) shakes hands with BHP Billiton China President Clinton Dines in front of the Olympic medals at an official handing over ceremony in Beijing July 3, 2008. [Photo: Xinhua]

Six thousand gold, silver, and bronze medals for the Beijing Olympic Games and Paralympics Games have been handed over to the Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) on Thursday , the Beijing Youth Daily reports.

The raw material provider of the medals, the games' official diversified minerals and medals sponsor BHP Billiton from Australia, delivered the winning awards for athletes to the organizer of the Games.

Raw materials like gold, silver and electrolytic copper were imported from Chile and Australia and sent to Shanghai Mint where the medals were made.

The medals for the champions and the runner-ups are made of pure silver and each of the champion's medals is plated with at least six grams of pure gold as requested by the game organizer. Each medal weighs about 150 grams.

The Olympic medals also incorporated fine jade excavated from Kunlun Mountain in northwest China's Qinghai Province, the first time in history that Olympic medals are made with more than just metal.

The unique design for the medals came from a team from China Central Academy of Fine Arts.

Beijing unveiled the official Olympic medal design on March 27, 2007.