The Olympic Gold Medals Aren’t Actually Gold, so How Much Is One Really Worth?

Medals were given out to the best athletes in the world during the 2024 Paris Olympics. But the gold medals aren't made entirely of real gold like many people think.

Every few years, people all across the globe unite for their love of sport and country as they cheer on the world’s best athletes in the Summer and Winter Olympics.

In the 2024 Paris Games, more than 10,000 Olympians competed for hundreds of medals but only about a third of those athletes will receive the highest honor: a gold medal.

There have been some questions about the gold medals and what they’re really made of. Here’s the surprising answer to that and why biting the medal (as many athletes do in photos) is not a good idea.

What’s in the box that is presented with the medals?

Along with the medals, each athlete at the Paris Games was presented with a box, leaving many to wonder what’s inside of it.

The official Olympics website noted that inside the 15-inch box is the official poster for the Games, designed by illustrator Ugo Gattoni. He created two posters, one for the Olympics and one for the Paralympics. Both were done manually, with no assistance from AI.

They took four months and 2,000 hours of work to complete.

How much the gold medals are worth

Many believe that the gold medals awarded to the first-place Olympians are made entirely of real gold, but that’s not the case. Per the International Olympic Committee (IOC) guidelines, gold medals are required to contain at least six grams of 24-carat gold coating. However, the remainder of the medal is primarily silver with a purity rating of at least 92.5%.

So how much are those medals actually worth?

According to experts for the jewelry retailer Steven Stone, “A gold medal weighs 529 grams, with a diameter of 85 millimeters and a thickness of 9.2 millimeters. The value of a gold medal is determined by the current market prices of silver and gold. At this moment in time, one gram of gold is worth $74.94, while one gram of silver is worth a much lower price of $0.73. Taking this into account, our experts worked out that a gold medal is currently worth $831.43.”

Why biting down on the gold medals isn’t the best idea

Something that is common for many Olympians to do during their photo ops is to bite their gold medals. However, that’s not really a good idea.

Even though we see the athletes biting down on these medals so often, that can actually be harmful to teeth.

The jewelry experts warned: “Olympians often bite their gold medals for photos, but since the medals are not made of solid gold, this practice can cause damage, leading to dents and scratches.”