Here's What Olympic Gold Medals Are Actually Made Of

The Rio Olympics have been nothing short of exciting so far, but there’s one thing on everyone’s minds: What are those medals made out of? Let’s investigate.

We can all agree that winning an Olympic gold medal is one of the greatest honors on Earth. So it’s only fair to assume the gold medals are made of gold, right? Well, think again.

It turns out the gold medals are actually made of 494 grams of silver and 6 grams of gold. That’s right, y’all. Apparently the last gold medal that was made entirely of gold was in 1912. In other words, those pretty gold medals in Rio are technically more silver than they are gold. They’re worth about $564 (based on the market price of gold and silver as of last week). So there’s no arguing that those babies aren’t hella fancy: They’re worth much less than the $708 record price of the 2012 London gold medal. The high price of the London medals was largely due to the high price of gold and silver at the time.

The actual design and composition of Olympic medals is ultimately determined by a committee in the host country, but there are certain parameters that all medals must follow. For example, all Olympic medals have to measure at least 3 mm thick and at least 60 mm in diameter. The gold medals are also to be bathed in gold and plated in at least 6 grams of gold.

Not too shabby, right?

Michael Phelps seems to agree.

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