Gold prices are at an all-time high, and so is the value of an Olympic gold medal. But they may not be worth as much as you think. Why? Gold medals aren’t made of gold. Not entirely, anyway. The gold medals being awarded at the Summer Olympics in Paris weigh 529 grams, or a little under 19 ounces.
However, most of the metal in a gold medal is actually silver. As per several reports, only 6 grams of gold are used in first-place Olympic medals. This is not unique to the 2024 Summer Games: For years, the International Olympic Committee has required that gold medals be at least 92.5% silver.
Gold medals are traditionally only plated in gold. Silver is worth significantly less than gold in part because it’s more common. The melt value of 6 grams of gold is a bit under $500, while the remaining 523 grams of silver are worth roughly $550. That adds up to a little over $1,000 in precious metals alone.
How much gold is in a gold medal?
The object weighs 529 grammes, but only six grammes are gold, or around 1.3% of the total medal’s total weight, while the rest are pure silver. The gold part consists only of a plate laid over the silver core. Up until the 1912 Stockholm Games, gold medals were made almost entirely of gold.
Most Olympic athletes spend much of their lives working in pursuit of a gold medal, so they probably don’t want to part with their prize, regardless of how much it’s worth. The good thing is that many athletes are rewarded with cash bonuses for winning medals at the mega event.
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