Olympic Gold Medals: The Surprising Truth Behind Their Makeup

The gold medals at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games are actually made of gold-plated silver.

Olympic gold medals are the most coveted medals handed out during the Olympic Games.

Many people have been curious if those medals are actually made from solid gold. A popular Google search over the last week asks what an Olympic gold medal is primarily made of.

THE QUESTION

Are Olympic gold medals made out of solid gold?

THE ANSWER

No, Olympic gold medals are not made out of solid gold.

WHAT WE FOUND

While Olympic gold medals contain real gold, they are primarily made of silver, with gold plating on top. The Paris 2024 Olympic organizing committee specifies that the gold and silver medals for the Games are made from solid silver, with six grams of gold used in the first-place medals. The third-place medals consist of a copper alloy, tin, and zinc.

Medals are made by the organizing committee for each year’s Games, but must follow guidelines set by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). These guidelines stipulate that first and second-place medals be made from silver of at least 925-1000 grade, and that the first-place medals be gilded in at least six grams of gold.

The Tokyo 2020 gold medals had “more than 6g of gold plating on pure silver,” according to the IOC. Their silver medals were made of pure silver, and the bronze medals were made of red brass (95% copper and 5% zinc).

Historically, the first-place medals for the 1904 and 1908 Olympics were actually made of solid gold. Since the 1912 Olympics, however, the medals have been made from silver plated with gold.

The Paris 2024 medals stand out because they also contain original iron from the Eiffel Tower. Each medal, regardless of whether it is gold, silver, or bronze, has a hexagon at its center made from this iron.