How much is an Olympic Gold really worth?

8–9–16, Adil

Olympics inspired. The amount of gold in a 2016 Olympic gold medal has fallen to 1.2%, thanks to gold prices at $1,343 an ounce. At current prices, a pure 500g medal would cost about $22,000 to make, with a total bill of about $50m for the games. The last time the Olympic Games handed out solid gold medals was 104 years ago at the 1912 Summer Games in Stockholm, Sweden. Gold medals were in fact only gold for eight years. The 1904 Olympics in St. Louis introduced the gold medal as the prize for first place. The 2016 gold is 98.8% silver (494g) and 1.2% gold (6g), worth about $587 each. From 2012 data: for the silver medal, the gold is replaced with more copper, for a ~$260 bill per medal. The bronze medal is 97% copper, 2.5% zinc and 0.5% tin, valued at a whopping $3.