With just under four months until the opening ceremonies at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, the Vancouver Olympic Committee unveiled the designs for the Olympic and Paralympic medals. Each medal will be unique because it will feature an image cropped from the artwork of native artist Corrine Hunt.

Unlike the medals from the 2006 Turin games, these are normal looking medals… For the most part. For the first time, the medals will not be flat. Each medal is undulating which, combined with the different portions of the master artwork used on each medal, will make each medal unique from the next. The undulations in the medal are supposed to represent the mountains, waves, and snow drifts of Canada’s west coast.

The Paralympic medals are square, rather than round, but are still undulating. They will have images from a different piece of artwork on each medal. On the reverse side of each medal, the phrase “With Glowing Hearts” will be printed in braille.

I was just at the Hockey Hall of Fame and saw the exhibit with all Olympic medals from the last 112 years. I will say this about these medals: I think they’re better looking than most of the medals that have come before it. That’s especially true of the Winter Olympic medals. If it wasn’t for those strange waves in the medals, I would say that Vancouver hit the nail on the head with these. I guess no Olympic medal is perfect. Still, it’s a long step up from those weird mascots.