An entire year after it was intended to take place, Tokyo finally was able to host the 2020 Summer Olympic Games, heralding athletes from all around the globe to compete in its 68,000 seat stadium. The facility, complete with a total of 42 different venues (of which includes a 523 million dollar pool) along with a singular Olympic Village of residential units, was home to more than 11,000 competitors from 206 different nations for the three weeks. Thirty-three sports were competed with 339 medals given. The United States led an impressive overall accomplishment, sweeping a third of the medals with 39 gold, 41 silver, and 33 bronze. With world records broken and new ones set, a whole new legacy of athletes graced the world stage yet again.
USA swimmer Caeleb Dressel came home from the island country with five gold medals—the most won by a single athlete in the entire games. But besides lasting memories and certainly a whole suitcase of Tokyo memorabilia, just how much richer did Dressel leave the games than when he came in? Precisely, how much are these gold medals exactly worth?
A Not-So-Golden History
Oddly enough, while the Olympic gold medal is one of the highest honors and achievements of an athlete’s career, it didn’t actually exist until the 1904 St. Louis Games. Keep in mind that the actual games date back to 776 BCE, and winners then were crowned in olive wreaths rather than given medals.
Medaling became a tradition beginning in 1896 Athens. From 1896 to 1904, first place victors were actually awarded the silver medal, second place the bronze, and third place (unfortunately) nothing.
The Golden Design
Even as each hosting country is given creative liberty to design their Olympic medals, the International Olympic Committee requires three specific emblems: the official name, Nike (the Greek goddess of victory), and the unmistakable five-ringed symbol of the Olympics.
Junichi Kawanishi, director of the Japan Sign Design Association, was selected to design the medals after outcompeting hundreds of other designers and students. His medals resemble rough stones that are polished to thematically embody “light and brilliance.” On the front are the words “Tokyo 2020” sandwiched between a wreath and the tell-tale five rings; the back artistically renders Nike, wings splayed, rising above the Panathinaikos Stadium with the Parthenon atop a hill in the distance. The official name, Games of the XXXII Olympiad Tokyo 2020, arcs over the top edge.
To top it off, those awarded medals receive a unique wooden case to house their hardware. No two are the same.
A Heart of Gold
Between April 2017 and March 2019, the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games oversaw the “Tokyo 2020 Medal Project.” They collected mobile phones and other electronic devices from people all over Japan to manufacture the nearly five thousand gold, silver, and bronze medals.
Every 2020 Olympian who won a medal—be it Dressel, Lee, Romashina—all had their earning’s origins in recycled materials. In the end, approximately 6.2 million mobile phones were repurposed for the project, and environmentalists and advocates for sustainability have globally lauded Tokyo’s efforts for a greener Olympics.
Gold Plates—Not Just for Dining
As big, illustrious, and already costly as the Olympic games are, many are shocked to hear that the gold medals aren’t solid gold. In fact, only six grams of gold—maximum—are allowed per medal, and the rest is to be silver. On average, at least 92.5% of the gold medal is silver, in fact, and simply the outside is plated in gold. Silver medals, however, are purely made of silver, while bronze medals are made of red brass.
Monetarily speaking, this places the gold medal at around a value of $800 when melted down, the silver at $450, and the bronze at around $5—quite a large gap! When sold, prices have risen to the hundred thousands, which speaks to how revered they are—much past just the simple metals used in production.
Even with a huge price tag that dangles around the necks of these accomplished athletes, it is safe to say that you won’t be finding many Olympic medals for sale up in the market. One or two may occasionally go by, but most will remain with the individuals that earned it, forever commemorating all the sweat, dedication, and hours upon hours of hard work.
Sources
Comentarios