The 2024 Paris Olympics are drawing to a close, with most of its medals having been awarded and GOAT status having been reinforced (we're looking at you, Simone Biles). But one thing we've been wondering throughout is are the Olymics medals solid gold? Or even real gold at all?
Gold, silver and bronze Olympics medals all look suitably legit and are clearly very solid, as proven by the fact that German Olympian David Moeller broke a tooth while biting his silver medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics. Ow.
But are Olympics medals real gold and how much are they worth? Beyond the priceless eternal glory, of course.
The identical twin sisters will represent Team GB in the women's 4x400m relay race.
Are Olympic medals real gold?
Ironically, gold medals are actually required by the Olympic Committee to be made using a minimum of 92.5% pure silver. However, gold medals are plated with 6g, so they are kinda, sorta gold, with them weighing in at 529g.
An International Olympic Committee spokesperson confirmed this back in a 2021 interview, explaining “The medals for first and second places shall be of silver of at least 925–1000 grade; the medal for first place shall be gilded with at least 6g of pure gold.”
Meanwhile, silver medals are essentially gold medals sans the gilding, with them weighing 525g, while bronze medals are alloys made from copper, tin and zinc, weighing in at 455g.
Raygun has been praised by an Olympics breaking judge for her “originality”.
What's special about Paris Olympic medals?
Each medal given out at the 2024 Paris Olympics contains some of the original iron from the Eiffel Tower, a special tribute to the city.
If, like us, you're wondering how they managed that, it's because ever since its completion in 1899, elements of the Eiffel Tower's iron frame have been removed during renovations and modernisation projects and held onto by Société d'Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel.
Paris Olympic medals are cut into a hexagonal shape, embossed with a flame above “Paris 2024” and the Olympic rings, with its other side portraying the revival of the Games in Greece and featuring Nike (goddess of victory, for the uninitiated).
How much are Olympic medals worth?
Beyond the eternal glory, memories and significance of an Olympic medal that you can't put a price tag on, the medals themselves aren't worth as much as you might expect.
If we're talking purely about the value of the metals themselves, Oxford Economics estimates the value of a gold medal at £805, while silver are £419 and bronze comes in at…£3.60.
However, given that this year's medals feature original metal from the Eiffel Tower and were designed by LVMH Group company Chaumet, we'd say there's definitely a lot of added value there.
According to Forbes, if medals were in fact made of pure gold, they would roughly come in at a cool £32,270, with the last time a pure gold medal was awarded being back in 1912.
From Simone Biles to Nada Hafez.
