BHP Billiton, the official diversified minerals and medals sponsor of the Beijing 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games, delivered on Thursday a total of 6,000 gold, silver and bronze medals to BOCOG.

Clinton Dines, president of BHP Billiton China, and Jiang Xiaoyu, executive vice-president of BOCOG.

Clinton Dines, president of BHP Billiton China, and Jiang Xiaoyu, executive vice-president of BOCOG, represented their respective organizations at a handover ceremony.

BHB Billiton became the company to ever sponsor the medals for both the Olympic and Paralympic Games in the same year.

Jiang Xiaoyu (Right, 1st ) receives the Paralympic medals from former gold medalists.

The medals of Beijing 2008 have a unique design that features jade inlaid into a medal disc; they are the first Olympic medals to ever incorporate non-metal materials.

The metal materials used to produce the medals came from Chile and Australia, while the inlaid jade was donated from the Qinghai government and the Beijing Arts and Crafts Group. The China Banknote Printing and Minting Corporation and numerous jade artisans were involved in the production of the medals.