The Tokyo Olympics are well underway, with many medalists already crowned.

Aside from the medals, winners also receive a bouquet of flowers on the podium as part of a 3,000 year old tradition.

The tradition continues in Tokyo this year, with the flowers selected of particular significance in Japan. 

Here's everything you need to know about the victory bouquets at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics...

What flowers are medallists given in Tokyo?

The commemorative bouquets are made up of flowers from different symbolic areas of Japan. 

Included in the bouquets are eustomas, Solomon's seals, sunflowers, gentians, all which are grown in areas hard hit by the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami in 2011.  

Here is why these particular flowers were selected...

Eustomas and Solomon's seals

Eustomas and Solomon's seals are cultivated in the Fukushima prefecture - a prefecture is essentially an area of Japan, with the entire country divided into 47 prefectures. 

In the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake, which occurred in 2011, and the following nuclear disaster, agriculture production dropped significantly. 

Undeterred by this, the Fukushima prefecture established a non-profit organisation to grow eustoma and Solomon's seal flowers in order to inspire hope for recovery. 

It also gave cultivators something to grow, with vegetable production too risky due to the radiation still present in the soil. 

Sunflowers

Following the Great East Japan Earthquake, parents in Miyagi who had lost their children planted the sunflowers on the hill where the young people had sought shelter from the oncoming tsunami. 

As a result, every year the hill is covered in sunflowers.

Gentians

The Indigo blue colour of gentians, which are grown in Iwate, matches the emblem of the Tokyo 2020 Games. 

Iwate was also devastated by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami.

Aspidistras

Aspidistras are grown in Tokyo and have been chosen to represent the host city.