How a lot gold is in an Olympic gold medal?

The First Olympic Congress (1894, Paris) adopted the Olympic Constitution, which additionally spelled out the foundations for awarding winners. For third place a bronze medal was awarded, for 2nd – 925 silver, for 1st – the identical medal, solely coated with 6 grams of gold. However they deviated from the rule on the very first Olympics (1896). There, a medal was not awarded for third place; for 2nd place the athlete acquired a bronze medal, and for 1st place a silver medal with minimal gold plating.

On the second Video games, the winners have been awarded an oblong bronze plaque coated with silver. However within the fourth (1908), the place for the primary time not two, however three finest athletes have been awarded, the primary award consisted fully of gold. And though it appeared small, solely 3.3 centimeters in diameter, it weighed 25 grams.

Later, the medals turned bigger, however the share of gold in them decreased, though its weight didn’t fall beneath 6 grams. On the 1980 Moscow Olympics, the gold medal totally complied with the usual prescribed within the constitution. On the subsequent Video games, the champion’s medal already contained 6.5 grams of gold. However the worth of an Olympic award is just not measured by the price of the metals included in it—at auctions, athletes have greater than as soon as earned tens of hundreds of {dollars} for his or her awards.