Turin officials dropped ball with ugly medal design

	Looks like someone forget to fill in the middle. AP
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Winter Olympics officials in Turin recently unveiled the design of the medals that will be handed out in February. Since you may have missed it, here's a list of things that those medals most closely resemble:

The metal washer you forgot to use while assembling that bargain-basement entertainment center.

Part of the "rejected" pile from 50 Cent's recent bling-bling shopping excursion.

A poorly designed "experimental" poker chip.

One-half of Elton John's latest wacky glasses.

A gold-plated batting donut Barry Bonds bought for his private use while waiting in the on-deck circle.

A target practice leftover from last year's biathlon championships.

One of the tires from the limited-edition Donald Trump Tonka truck set.

Unfortunately, the one thing the medals do not resemble is ... an Olympic medal.

Italian designers usually produce things of breathtaking beauty (Ferrari, anyone?), but they completely whiffed by sticking a huge hole in the center of the Turin medals. Now we'll be subjected to seeing the winning athletes wear their medals like oversized rings. Is there any doubt that someone at some point will flip the bird while wearing the medal around the offending finger?

To be fair, this is not the first time that local organizers have messed with the classic medal design. In Albertville, glass was the material of choice for the majority of the medal surface (no doubt driving down its eBay value). In Salt Lake City, the medals had a curvy edge that was supposed to resemble river rocks. Egads!

Really, how difficult is it to create a solid round object of gold, silver or bronze? Are we so hip that we have to mess with a classic design? What's next, a square medal? How about a medal that spells out O-L-Y-M-P-I-C-S in cursive letters?

An Olympic medal is the symbol of ultimate athletic achievement (along with a "Going To Disney World" commercial, guest-hosting Saturday Night Live and asking for a bigger contract next year). Believe me, the athletes don't care if the medal is a "work of art." Why should the rest of us?

The hole in the middle of the Turin medal is supposed to represent the open space of an Italian piazza. I think it would have been better off representing a pizza.