Olympic medalists traditionally cradle flower bouquets as they hold up gold, silver or bronze medals from a tiered platform. But not this year in Brazil.
Instead, the world’s best gymnasts, runners, ping-pongers and trampolinists are clutching small 3-D sculptures of Rio's Olympics logo.
The switch from ephemeral flowers to long-lasting trinkets is a small part of the Olympic organizing committee’s bigger mission to limit the environmental damage from the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games, a Rio 2016 spokesperson told Mashable.
Through its sustainability program -- called “Abraça” (Portuguese for “Embrace”) -- the committee pledged to limit the enormous amounts of water, energy, food and raw materials that are gobbled up during the 45-day spectacle.
The organizing committee said it "has not only taken on this challenge, but is fully embracing the cause."
Organizers estimated the Olympic venues will use roughly 29,500 megawatts of electricity, or more than twice the capacity of Brazil’s massive Itaipu hydroelectric dam. Olympics-related vehicles will guzzle around 23.5 million liters of fuel, enough to fill the tanks of roughly 500,000 Honda Civics.
Rio 2016 planners have vowed to use renewable energy like wind and hydropower, biofuels and energy-efficient equipment to supply some of the Games’ energy needs.
The committee also projected the Olympics will result in nearly 19,000 tons of food scraps, garbage and solid waste -- equal to five times the amount of solid waste that Rio de Janeiro's 6.3 million residents produce in a year, according to estimates by the United Nations Environment Program.
As part of its plan to limit waste, organizers made changes to the medal ceremonies.
The Rio Olympics team said it made nearly 2,500 total medallions -- 812 gold, 812 silver and 864 bronze -- using sustainable methods and materials.
U.S. swimming legend Michael Phelps, for instance, so far has won four first-place medals made from gold extracted without the use of poisonous mercury. Silver and bronze medals were produced with 30 percent recycled materials. The colorful ribbons that hold the medals around athletes’ necks are partly made with recycled plastic bottles.
So it’s only fitting that flowers, which are unceremoniously tossed after each event, would be cut from the ceremonies, the Rio 2016 spokesperson said in an email.
"In the interest of sustainability and innovation, it was decided that flowers would not be awarded to medal winners at this Olympic Games," the spokesperson explained.
"The flowers awarded are usually thrown away or, even if kept, would struggle to survive in the tropical Brazilian climate."
The spokesperson added that some flowers are still displayed on the stage to keep with Olympics tradition.
But small tweaks such as scrapping flowers, and even bigger fixes like composting organic waste, won’t be enough to resolve the broader environmental problems surrounding the Olympics and its host city.
Rio officials are facing widespread criticism for failing to clean up the city’s sewage-filled waters, particularly in the Guanabara Bay, the venue for sailing in the 2016 Olympics. The Associated Press found in its 16-month-long investigation that Rio’s waterways are still contaminated with raw human sewage and teeming with dangerous viruses and super-bacteria.
The Guardian reported that a golf course built for the Olympics encroaches on the Marapendi reserve, which houses rare butterflies, pines and other species unique to the region.
And two Olympic pools this week turned electric green after hot weather and a lack of wind caused an algae outbreak.
Topics Olympics Sustainability
