How much gold is in the Olympic gold medal? Weight of the Olympic medal

The Olympic medal is an award of the highest dignity, every athlete dreams about it. However, ordinary people are most interested in the question of how much gold is in the gold Olympic medal and what it consists of. Let's try to understand how the size, composition and design of awards varied from year to year, from the Olympics to the Olympics.

Historical digression

First of all, it should be noted that the Olympic medal should not be evaluated primarily on its material content. Still, this award carries a more humane and large-scale meaning and is perceived as an alloy of nobility, courage, strength of spirit and will. All these qualities make a person a Sportsman. A medal - it's just a way to encourage his achievements. Initially, it was established that every city hosting the Olympics will be engaged in the development and manufacture of awards. At the same time, the Olympic Committee makes a number of its demands:

1. Medals should have a diameter of at least 60 mm and a width of at least 3 mm.
2. Gold and silver awards should be made of a metal alloy, while it should be 92.5% silver.
3. Gold awards should have a gold covering, thus gold should be not less than 6 grammes.

Thus, it becomes clear how much gold in the gold Olympic medal is only 6 grams, while all the rest is silver.

What was - what became

The first Olympic Games were held back in 776 BC. Athletic competitions were held in honor of the hero of the myths of Hercules, while he won no awards for his victories in the fight and pankration (hand-to-hand combat). The tradition of awarding medals has already appeared in modern times, when the First Olympic Congress adopted a corresponding decision in 1894. All requirements, rules, principles of rewarding were clearly spelled out in the Olympic Charter. So, the first and second prize-winner received awards from silver of 925-th test, the third prize-winner received bronze, and the winner - a medal, which was covered with gold. Even then, the parameters were roughly determined: the weight and composition of awards, as well as the question of how much gold was in the gold Olympic medal.

How the rewards have changed

The first modern Games were held in 1896 in Athens. Then the winners received silver awards, and the second places were awarded with copper awards. In Greece, 43 sets of awards were played, while their design was developed by Jules Chaplin, and the weight of the Olympic medal was only 47 grams. The most unusual awards were awarded at the next Olympics, in 1900, which was held in Paris. Designer Frederik Vernon for the first time in the Olympic history offered rectangular medals, on one side of which was depicted the goddess of victory, Nick, and on the other - an athlete. It was with these Games that the tradition of awarding gold, silver and bronze medals began.

The weight of the Olympic medal was constantly changing: for example, at the Games in 1904 and 1908 it was the smallest and was only 21 grams. For comparison: the medals at the winter competitions in Vancouver weighed 576 grams, and in Sochi - 585 grams, which is considered an absolute record of the Games.

Innovations and ideas

Of course, the entire time of the Olympic movement was not without various nuances and incidents. Suppose, for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, the organizers decided to make medals from secondary raw materials. This was done in order to improve the environmental situation on Earth, and therefore Olympic medals were created from waste electrical boards. And this allowed Canada to significantly save on the Games. It is noteworthy that each award had its own engraving, that is, not one athlete did not repeat medals.

What about the composition?

The composition of the Olympic medal also changed . So, the smallest in weight and the most gold in composition was the award at the Olympics in London in 1908. At the games in Albertville in 1992, awards were made of handmade glass, and as a frame used gold. And two years later, when the Games were held in Norway, in Lillehammer, awards were created from granite, which was caused by the desire of designers to emphasize the love of Norwegians for nature.

Features of creation

In addition to the question of how much Gold in the gold Olympic medal, many ask about how they are created and approved. So, the jewelry factory "Adamas" was engaged in creating awards for the Games in Sochi, and for the first time in the history of the Olympic movement the private organization was engaged in manufacturing. For example, for all Games held in English cities, medals were created by the state mint .

The creation of medals for the Olympic Games is a time-consuming process in which responsibility and accuracy of each stage play a big role. Many were interested in how much gold was in the Olympic medal in Sochi, as they were the most impressive in size. So, in the gold award was 565 grams of silver (960-th test) and 6 grams of gold (999-th test). These indicators correspond to the minimum requirements established by the IOC. Silver and bronze were 100% composed of those materials that were supposed to be in their composition, namely: 525 grams of silver and 460 grams of bronze. Thus, the symbolism of medals lies in the fact that the most difficult and expensive is the gold reward, which is more difficult for the athlete. In total, about three kilograms of gold, two tons of silver and 700 kilograms of bronze were spent on the production of awards for the Games in Sochi.

How much is?

Of course, the creation of Olympic awards for the state - this is a fairly large investment of funds. Therefore, many wonder how much is the Olympic medal. This can be understood if one assesses how many states are willing to pay to their athletes for their awards. Consider the indicators based on the Sochi Winter Olympics. Most of all money for a gold medal was ready to offer Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Latvia - accordingly $ 510000, $ 250,000, $ 193,000. In Russia, premiums were $ 115,600. Thus, Olympic medals are valuable in themselves as a sporting achievement, but in addition to them you can get good bonuses, which means that athletes have something to strive for.

Olympic records

As in any sports competition, during the Olympics the records are set not only by the athletes, but also by the organizers. For example, the smallest in weight and purest in terms of composition were the awards awarded in London in 1908. For their manufacture, pure gold was used, and this was the only time in the history of the Olympic Games. It is enough to look at them to understand how much the Olympic medal of that time weighs. New records were set in Vancouver: medals weighing 576 grams were minted at these competitions. The largest diameter was in medals in the Olympic Turin: the awards were similar to CDs, had an unusual cut for the tape and looked pretty impressive, weighing 469 grams. The only deviation from the round form was the awards in the form of a rectangle, which were awarded in 1900 in Paris. Thus, every sport, especially the Olympics, is a long-awaited event, when it is possible to appreciate both the condition and capabilities of athletes, and the ability and organizational capabilities of countries that host these important world-wide competitions.