Why aren't Olympic gold medals made of pure gold?

The gold medals of the Olympics used to be made of pure gold, so they were called "gold medals".

The first modern Olympic Games - the Athens Olympics in 1896 awarded silver and bronze medals to the winners; the Paris Olympics in 1900 awarded trophies to the winners; starting from the St. Louis Olympics in 1904, gold, silver and bronze medals were awarded to the top three athletes respectively. This medal system has also continued as an Olympic tradition.

The gold medals at that time were really made of pure gold.

The gold medals of the later 1908 London Olympics and 1912 Stockholm Olympics were also made of pure gold. The medals at that time were also relatively small. For example, the gold medal of the 1912 Stockholm Olympics was only 24g.

At that time, there were fewer events and the price of gold was relatively low, so such production costs were acceptable at the time.

The 1912 Stockholm Olympics was also the last time that pure gold medals appeared.

Later, World War I and World War II broke out one after another. The continuous wars led to the collapse of the global economy, and the price of gold also soared. In the 1920 Antwerp Olympics, which was restored after the war, gold-plated gold medals were produced and awarded due to economic considerations. Later host countries have continued to use this practice.

Since Olympic medals need to be made by the organizers themselves, this is a relatively large expense in the preparation process of the Olympics. In order to reduce the economic pressure on the organizers, the International Olympic Committee currently only has the minimum limit standards for medals-

The diameter of the medal cannot be less than 60 mm, and the thickness cannot be less than 3 mm;

In the gold medal, the silver content is more than 92.5%, and it contains at least 6 g of gold;

In the silver medal, the silver content is more than 92.5%;

In the bronze medal, the copper content is more than 92.5%.

The gold medals for this year's Paris Olympics weigh 529 grams, including 505 grams of silver (95.4%) and 6 grams of gold. In addition, each medal is inlaid with 18 grams of iron from the Eiffel Tower. The designer re-cut and polished the parts of the tower that were replaced during the repairs and added them to the medals as a symbol of Paris.

Although the composition ratio has not changed, due to the soaring gold price, Forbes estimates that the production cost of the Paris Olympic gold medals exceeds US$950 per piece, breaking the record of US$800 per piece in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, becoming the most expensive gold medal in Olympic history.

If the gold medals are made of pure gold, the cost of a single gold medal will reach more than US$40,000. . This year's Olympics has 329 medal events. It is estimated that no country can afford such expenses~