How much does the rio olympic gold medal weigh. How much gold is in an Olympic gold medal? Olympic medal weight. What was - what became
How Olympic medals are made for Rio 2016 August 3rd, 2016
Ask athletes what an Olympic gold medal is made of, and they'll probably answer sweat and years of training. For the National Mint of Brazil, the answer would be much simpler: recycled silver. The 500-gram gold Olympic medals that athletes will receive in Rio de Janeiro are almost 99 percent silver. They contain only 1.2 percent gold, which is mainly used to cover the medal.
Let's see how these medals are made...
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Most of the silver is recycled old mirrors and x-rays. The medal will feature Nike, the winged goddess of victory in Ancient Greece, which is located on one side of the medal below the five Olympic rings, while the disciplines for which the medal is awarded are won along the edge. The other side bears the Rio 2016 logo.
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True, gold medals did not always consist of silver. So. until 1912 they were made of pure gold, however, such medals were small (although they weighed 50 grams, on average). At that time, athletes did not receive such huge amounts as they do now, therefore, in case of need, they could always sell gold at cost, receiving a considerable amount of money.
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A worker at the Casa da Moeda Brazil (Brazilian Mint) inspects molds that will be used to make Olympic and Paralympic medals in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, June 28, 2016. The Casa da Moeda of Brazil is the Brazilian Mint, owned by the Brazilian government and administered by the Ministry of Finance. It was established in 1694. It produces legal tender — coins and banknotes. It also produces medals, passports, subway tokens, postage stamps used and issued by government service providers.
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Nelson Porto, an artisan and employee of the Casa da Moeda of Brazil (Brazilian Mint) works on making the Rio 2016 Olympic medal in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, June 28, 2016.
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A worker at the Casa da Moeda Brazil (Brazilian Mint) pours molten metal into a mold for the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic medals in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, June 28, 2016.
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What do athletes do with their medals?
Some keep them all their lives, others sell them, in any case. For example, one of the gold medals received by an American hockey player in 1980 was sold for $310,700. The athlete needed treatment, and this money came in handy for him.
However, this is an isolated case of the sale of an Olympic medal for such an amount.
Other "sellers" who at various times offered Olympic gold medals received from 11,250 to 17,100 US dollars for them. Agree, this is very little, if we are talking for the world famous award.
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All athletes who receive Olympic medals at the 2016 Rio Games will not remain in their homeland without various incentives, including financial ones.
Only here the size of bonus payments varies greatly in different countries. Prize money for the winners of the Olympic Games is not at all an innovation, even in ancient Greece, the winners of the Olympics enjoyed certain privileges in society: the champions were paid 500 drachmas, they were carved a marble monument in full height, and also until the end of their days they were fed free of charge in public canteens and allowed into the front rows of theaters, for example, in Olympic Athens.
The ban on monetary rewards for Olympic medals was abolished by the International Olympic Committee in the early 1980s. And since then, the real race for financial rewards has begun. Their size in many countries is constantly increasing, however, at the same time, many economically developed countries of the world, like Great Britain or Norway, do not pay anything to their athletes.
USA
In the USA, since 1984, they have not changed the amount of bonuses for Olympic medals for their athletes, and they pay gold medalists only $ 25 thousand. Therefore, for example, if athletes from the US Olympic swimming team want to earn money at the 2016 Games, they will have to win several medals at once , as Michael Phelps successfully does.
Poland
$38,000 for gold, $25,000 for silver, $16,000 for bronze.
Polish Olympic champions can still count on sponsorship gifts in the form of budget cars, such as the KIA brand. It is worth noting here that in many cases, preparations for the Games are carried out by athletes practically at their own expense.
Belarus
The prize money for a gold medal in Belarus will be $150,000, $75,000 for silver, and $50,000 for bronze. A huge bonus for Olympians is that the costs of preparing for the Games are fully covered by the state, and in case of winning Olympic medals, athletes can additionally count on an Olympic scholarship paid for 4 years.
At the London Games 2012, the Belarusian team won 12 medals, two of them gold.
Russia
In January 2015, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree setting out the amount of prize money that will be awarded to Russian athletes for his achievements at the Rio 2016 Olympics. Gold medalists will receive 4 million rubles (~$60,000), silver medalists will receive 2.5 million rubles (about $37,000), and bronze medalists will receive 1.7 million rubles ($25,000).
Let me remind you that at the previous Olympic Games, which were held in 2012 in London, Russian team won 82 awards (24 gold, 25 silver, 33 bronze).
Ukraine
Prize fees for the medals of the 2016 Olympics for Ukrainian athletes will be as follows: the owner of the "gold" will receive 125 thousand dollars from the state, $80 thousand - for the "silver" and $55 thousand - for the bronze award. By the way, despite the very good financial incentives for Olympic medals, most athletes from Ukraine compete for other countries after going through the naturalization procedure.
China
Chinese athletes will receive $50,000 from their Olympic Committee for a gold medal, $25,000 for silver, and $15,000 for bronze. By the way, at the last Olympiads, China did not pay bonuses to athletes for silver and bronze awards at all, but they were guaranteed lifelong employment in Chinese sports departments or local provinces.
Thailand
The Thai Olympic champion is entitled to $314,000, but it will be paid in monthly installments over 20 years.
Germany and Austria
Such economically developed countries of Europe as Germany and Austria, the gold medals of their Olympic champions are estimated at only 20 thousand in dollar terms.
UK, Norway, Sweden, Croatia
These countries pay nothing at all Olympic champions and winners of the Games. The explanation is simple: the country's budget goes to the development of children's and youth sports, as well as to popularize healthy lifestyle life among citizens. Well, the Olympians, after all, are the same people as everyone else.
Well, do you know how much the Olympic medals of Rio de Janeiro 2016 cost?
Gold medal - $600 (it consists of 1% gold, 92.5% silver and 6.16% copper)
Silver medal - $325 (mostly silver)
Bronze medal - $3 (97% copper and 2.5% zinc and 0.5% tin)
Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro will be held from August 5 to 21, 2016, the Paralympic - September 7-18, 2016, and the governments of different countries, meanwhile, calculate the prize money for their athletes.
4.08.2012 01:42
According to the recommendations of the International Olympic Committee, Olympic gold medals must contain at least 6 grams of pure gold in the form of application. As a rule, the organizers of the Games do not increase this figure, so gold medal in the physical sense, mostly silver. So, in the medals of the highest standard of the London Olympics-2012, the gold content is slightly more than 1%.
The standard is 6 grams. But it was not always respected.
The first Olympic Congress (1894, Paris) adopted the Olympic Charter, which also spelled out the rules for awarding winners. For the 3rd place, a bronze medal was supposed, for the 2nd - from 925 silver, for the 1st - the same, only covered with 6 grams of gold. But they deviated from the rule at the very first Olympics (1896). There, a medal was not awarded for 3rd place, for 2nd place the athlete received a bronze medal, for 1st - silver with minimal gilding. At the second Games, the winners were awarded a rectangular plaque made of bronze, covered with silver. But on the fourth (1908), where for the first time not two, but three best athletes were awarded, the main award consisted entirely of gold. And although it seemed small, only 3.3 centimeters in diameter, it weighed 25 grams. Later, the medals became larger, but the proportion of gold in them decreased, although its weight did not fall below 6 grams. At the Moscow Olympics in 1980, the gold medal fully met the standard prescribed in the charter. At the next Games, the champion's medal already contained 6.5 grams of gold. But the value of the Olympic award is not measured by the value of the metals included in it, which does not exceed $250. When Polish swimmer Otilija Jedrzejczak auctioned her Athens gold medal in 2004, it fetched nearly $82,500.
An Olympic gold medal is only 1.2% gold, which is just to cover the award. Inside it is one silver. With the second most important award, it is also not easy. Actually, silver in a silver medal is about 92.5%, the remaining 7.5% is copper. And only the bronze award consists of bronze, which is an alloy of copper with zinc and tin (97% copper, 2.5% zinc and 0.5% tin).
One of the missions of the Games currently taking place in Rio de Janeiro is to draw the attention of the world community to environmental problems. Therefore, the composition of the medals includes metals obtained as a result of processing. Ribbons for awards are completely made from recycled plastic bottles. Another feature of Brazilian medals is their heftiness. The weight of the award of the highest dignity has grown up to 500 grams - a record in the history of the Summer Games.
How much do Olympic medals cost?
Based on the market value of the components, the cheapest award is expected to be a bronze medal. It costs only about 650 rubles.
A silver medal is made mainly of silver of at least 925 fineness, and therefore its value is about 15,000 rubles.
The gold medal also mostly consists of 925 sterling silver or higher. Essentially, this is the same silver medal. The only difference is that 6 grams of pure gold (999 fineness) is applied on top of it. The cost of a gold medal is about 52,000 rubles.
Question answer
Why did they stop awarding medals of pure gold, silver and bronze?
Making Olympic awards directly from solid gold, silver and bronze was abandoned for reasons of economy. If, for example, the highest award was made from pure precious metal, then it would cost 22 thousand dollars. And if you consider that 812 gold medals are played at the Rio Games, then the country would have to fork out as much as $ 17.8 million to produce them.
Completely gold, silver and bronze medals at the Olympics they were awarded only three times: in 1904 at the Games in American St. Louis, in 1908 at the Games in London and in 1912 at the Games in Stockholm. True, these awards were awarded only to the winners in individual championships, and in appearance they looked more like small coins.
Silver Olympic medals in the hands of Russian gymnasts. Photo: RIA Novosti / Alexei Filippov What are the requirements for Olympic medals?
There are requirements for Olympic medals not only in terms of metal composition, but also in terms of size, design and fastening:
Medals must be at least 60 mm in diameter and at least 3 mm thick;
Each medal must have a chain or ribbon fastener;
Each medal must be marked with the sport in which it is played;
The design of medals is developed by the country hosting the Olympic Games, but the International Olympic Committee (IOC) always has the final say.
Question answer
What is depicted on the medals Summer Olympics in Rio?
The obverse side of the medal depicts Nike, the winged goddess of victory in ancient Greek mythology. It is located below the five Olympic rings, while the name of the discipline and the name of the medal winner are engraved along the edge.
The other side of the medal bears the Rio 2016 logo. The award is presented along with the case, which is made from the cordia goelda tree, which grows only in South America.
What awards were given at the Olympics in Ancient Greece?
At the Olympics in Ancient Greece, the winner did not receive any awards, except for a wreath of olive branches. They were awarded on the day of the end of the Games in the temple of Zeus.