An Olympic gold medal is the ultimate symbol of sporting excellence, representing years of training and sacrifice. However, there is a surprising detail about the prize that athletes work towards for years. Despite its name, the medal is not made entirely of gold.
This means that the precious metal gives the medal its golden finish, while silver makes up most of its structure. Each medal also incorporated an original piece of iron from the Eiffel Tower. Gold medals must be made of silver containing at least 92.5% pure silver and coated with at least six grams of pure gold, according to the International Olympic Committee’s medal regulations. The Paris 2024 Olympics added a distinctive feature to this tradition. Each gold and silver medal was made using recycled silver, while the gold medals contained six grams of recycled gold, according to the Paris 2024 organising committee’s sustainability report . The last Olympic Games to award medals made entirely of gold were held in 1912, according to the World Gold Council .
Since then, gold medals have been made primarily from silver and finished with a coating of gold.
Using solid gold would make producing thousands of medals considerably more expensive. With medals awarded across individual and team events, a silver base helps keep costs down while retaining the golden finish.
