In a room inside the Rio Olympic Arena, volunteers Gustavo Rosenau, Matheus Vital and Caroline Luz wore disposable gloves to handle the six medals to be awarded on Monday afternoon (15 August) in the Rio 2016 gymnastics competition.

“The medals are always handled with gloves – nobody can touch them before the athletes do,” said Christy Nicolai, general manager of sport presentation at Rio 2016.

The medals were carefully taken out of their boxes and placed on a wooden tray next to a small sculpture of the Rio 2016 logo, a present for the medallists.

An unspoken question was hanging in the air: if Brazilian Arthur Zanetti made it onto the podium in the rings event, who would have the honour of carrying his medal?

Volunteers Bruno, Caroline and Matheus preparing the medals (Photo: Rio 2016/Fernanda Ezabella)

Under lock and key

Over 2,000 medals have been produced for Rio 2016 by the Brazilian national mint (Casa da Moeda do Brasil in Portuguese). They are kept in a secret location until six hours before the Rio 2016 victory ceremonies, when they are escorted to venues by the Brazilian security service known as the National Public Security Force. Around 500 volunteers take part in victory ceremonies across the Rio 2016 venues, accompanying athletes to the podium, carrying trays and preparing the medals.

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In the venue visited by Rio2016.com, the Rio Olympic Arena, 11 volunteers provided assistance, while 14 National Force soldiers were responsible for security and hoisting of the flags. The six medals awarded on Monday (15 August) were kept in a safe in a small room that also held the 140 flags of countries taking part in the gymnastics competition. In an adjacent room, the flags were treated with steam irons while the volunteers got ready for the ceremony.

Tatiana Cordeiro preparing the Brazilian flag for the ceremony (Photo: Rio 2016/Fernanda Ezabella)

Twenty-year-old student Caroline Luz accompanied Brazilian gymnasts Diego Hypolito and Arthur Nory to the podium on Sunday (14 August), after they won the silver and bronze medals in the artistic gymnastics floor exercise respectively. “Nory was very excited, he couldn’t wait to get his medal and he shared that energy with us,” she recalled. “Diego was quite emotional, tearful, and we helped to settle his nerves.”

Another student volunteer, Matheus Vital, carried the tray with the medals to the Brazilian athletes waiting on the podium. “It was moving to see two Brazilian flags; it was the best Sunday of my life,” said the student, who registered to become a volunteer back in 2014. “I knew it would be a unique opportunity, and I very much wanted to be part of it.”

While the volunteers arranged the medals on their trays, pop music played in a room decorated with green and yellow bunting. Tatiana Cordeiro, a volunteer who also took part in the opening ceremony, passed the steamer over the flags of Brazil and other countries competing in the event before getting changed and putting on make-up for the ceremony.

Members of the Brazilian armed forces carried the Greek and Brazilian flags (Photo: Rio 2016/Fernanda Ezabella)

Rio 2016 staff and volunteers, together with the members of the elite Força Nacional, followed Zanetti’s performance in the rings event on a screen set up in the prep room. Excitement turned to bustle before long, however: medals and flags had to be checked and rechecked against the medallist’s nationalities (gold for Greece, silver for Brazil and bronze for Russia). The volunteers then got in line ready to enter the stage, alongside the military flagbearers.

The lucky volunteer carrying the silver to Zanetti was 25-year-old Gustavo Rosenau. Task completed, he returned backstage with broad grin. “I was trembling with excitement,” he said.

Gustavo with Zanetti’s silver, followed by Tatiana and Matheus (Photo: Rio 2016/Fernanda Ezabella)