Rio 2016: Gold in sport – a
winning combination
In August and September, Why gold, silver and
bronze?
the eyes of the world
will turn to Brazil for
These metals denote
the first three Ages
the Rio 2016 Olympic
of Man in Greek
and Paralympic Games
mythology:
and with it will come
The Golden Age,
when men lived
a natural focus on the
among the gods; the
competition for gold.
Silver Age, where youth lasted a
hundred years; and the Bronze
Age, the era of heroes.
The Rio 2016 Olympic medals
A Rio 2016 gold medal will be
worth approximately US$600.
The medals made for the 2016
games have been produced by
the Brazilian Mint, and are said to
represent symbols of sustainability
and accessibility, as well as
sporting excellence.
=US$600
The designs feature laurel leaves
– a symbol of victory in ancient
Greece – surrounding the Rio
2016 logo. The organisers have
said this symbolises the
relationship between the
“strengths of Olympic heroes
and the forces
of nature.”
Vital statistics
Each medal is 85mm in diameter
and each medal; gold, silver and
bronze, weighs 500g. They are
the biggest and heaviest summer
Olympic medals ever made.
Reduced environmental
impact
The gold medals meet
sustainability criteria from
extraction to refining, as well
as meeting strict environmental
and labour laws.
Sustainable
Environmental
Labour laws
85mm
500g
0%
A total of 2,488 Olympic medals
have been produced for the
Rio 2016 Games – with 812 gold,
812 silver and 864 bronze.
Gold
=812
Silver
=812
30%
Bronze
=864
Use of mercury
in production
recycled
The gold in the gold medals
has been produced completely
without the use of mercury. In the
silver and bronze medals, 30% of
the material used is recycled.
Paralympic Games medals
The Paralympic Games medals
feature a special innovation.
They have a tiny device inside
which makes a noise when the
medal is shaken, allowing visually
impaired athletes to know if they
are gold, silver or bronze (gold
has the loudest noise, bronze
the quietest).
Loud
Quiet
The first gold medal
The custom of awarding gold,
silver and bronze in sequence for
the first three places dates back
to the 1904 Summer Olympics
in St. Louis, Missouri in the
United States.
Since then, the practice has
continued and the International
Olympic Committee (IOC) has
retroactively assigned gold, silver
and bronze medals to the three
top placed athletes in each event
of the Games.
The last Olympic Games where
medals were made entirely of
gold was in 1912.
World Gold Council
10 Old Bailey, London EC4M 7NG
United Kingdom
[email protected]
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What’s in a gold medal
today?
92.5% Silver
6.16% Copper
1.34% Gold
The International Olympic
Committee stipulates that each
gold medal must have a minimum
silver content of 92.5% and at
least six grams of gold. Consistent
with the London 2012 Games,
copper is again being used as an
ingredient.
Half of the plastic in the ribbons,
which will position the medals
around athletes’ necks, comes
from recycled bottles.