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So What Are Gold Medals from the Rio Olympics Really Worth?

Published

10 years ago

August 22, 2016

In case you wondered, they’re not solid gold.

All those medals that got handed out at the Rio Olympics have patriotic and sentimental value — but what about their cash value? This year, one gold medal (like the one shown, with swimmer Michael Phelps) is worth about $564, Forbes estimates, based on the price of gold and silver. Each 500-gram gold medal from Rio is plated with six grams of 99.9 percent pure gold, the article says, and the rest is silver of at least 92.5 percent purity. That dollar amount is down from the $708 “podium value” of gold medals at the London Olympics in 2012, when gold and silver prices were higher. A silver medal from Rio is worth about $305, and bronze medals, which are made of copper and zinc, have no intrinsic value. In keeping with the Rio games’ environmentally themed opening ceremonies, the medals were produced using eco-friendly methods, right down to the cases made from sustainably sourced wood.

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