What a fraud! The Olympic "gold" medal is only 6 grams gold, 93% silver!

[phideaux]

What's an Olympic gold medal worth?

By Annalyn Censky @CNNMoney July 18, 2012: 8:38 AM ET

0:00 /2:40See Olympic medals being minted

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Next week in London, athletes from around the world will go for the gold. But as it turns out, the Olympic gold medal is mostly made of silver.

Weighing in at 412 grams -- or roughly the weight of a can of green beans -- the gold medal is made up of only 1.34%, or about 6 grams of gold.

The rest is comprised of 93% silver and 6% copper.

Melted down and sold at today's market value, those raw materials would be worth about $650.
In comparison, the silver medal -- made up of 93% silver and 7% copper --- would be worth about $335. The bronze medal, mostly made of copper, would be worth less than $5.

The Olympic games have not handed out solid gold medals since the 1912 summer games in Stockholm, Sweden.
The 2012 Olympic medals were made from nearly nine tons of metal from Rio Tinto's Kennecott Utah Copper mine in Salt Lake City and its Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia.

British artist David Watkins created this year's design on the front of the medal. The back depicts Nike, the Greek Goddess of Victory stepping out of the Parthenon.

The Royal Mint in South Wales pressed the medals in a 10-hour process that requires a 1,400°F furnaceand nearly 1,000 tons of weight on a special press.

The 2,300 Olympic medals are currently being guarded at the Tower of London until the games begin, July 27.


Medals up for auction

Of course a medal has more symbolic value to the Olympic champions and their fans. Resales are rare, but when they do happen, one can command exponentially more than its makeup.

0:00 /2:53UPS tests its Olympic mettle

A gold medal worn by Mark Wells, a member of the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" U.S. men's hockey team, garnered $310,700 at auction two years ago.

Swimmer Anthony Ervin, a medalist in 2000, auctioned his gold to raise $17,000 for victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004. And a medal worn by Ken Spain, a member of the 1968 U.S. Basketball team sold for $26,000 last year.

Not all medals are an easy sell though.

Track and field star Tommie Smith, made famous when he raised his fist in a black power salute at the 1968 Olympic Games, was hit by a media backlash when he put his gold medal up for auction in 2010.
He still has the medal, after no one met the minimum $250,000 bid.

http://money.cnn.com/2012/07/18/news....htm?iid=HP_LN

[TomD]

If 6 grams represents .0134 of the medal by weight, if the medal were of the same weight but of gold, there would be 14.4 oz of gold per medal. If the medal were of the same size but of gold, it would weigh about 26.5 oz of gold. Considering that the medals would have between around $23,000 and $42,000 in gold in them and that they give out many hundreds of them, you can sorta see why they cheap out. But still, even if they gave out 1000 of them and they were the big ones, it would be $42 million, a drop in the bucket when it comes to the Olympics.

[Irons]

Well thats a relief! Now I can stop this intense training I've been doing and get back to being a lazy fook.

6 grams of gold ain't worth running until I puke everyday. I can find that in a lake.

[Fiat Metaler]

60 mm diameter, 3 mm thick, i calculate 5.3 troy ounces if solid gold, value approximately $8,300.

of course the gold medals have not been solid gold since 1912.

[smooth]

No wonder Phelps was seen smoking dope shortly after the games.... major bummer dude

[Gcubed]

Well thats a relief! Now I can stop this intense training I've been doing and get back to being a lazy fook.

6 grams of gold ain't worth running until I puke everyday. I can find that in a lake.

Irons, Is there anything that could have sentimental value to you? What a damn Gold Hoor!!

[Irons]

Irons, Is there anything that could have sentimental value to you? What a damn Gold Hoor!!

Not really.................

[Gcubed]

Not really.................

[Ragnarok]

Pretty sad. Second place gets a silver medal, first place gets a gold plated silver medal.

I guess the bragging rights are what's really important.

R.

[Ronnie Mexico]

Whats worth more: an Olympic victory or a slab of metal? It's the honor of being an Olympic champion, if you want gold go to a coindealer or something.

[gringott]

Well thats a relief! Now I can stop this intense training I've been doing and get back to being a lazy fook.

6 grams of gold ain't worth running until I puke everyday. I can find that in a lake.

Were you training for the female hurtle team?

[gringott]

The phrase "Go fo the gold" should now be "Go for the gold plated silver - copper alloy"

[Silver Art]

Whats worth more: an Olympic victory or a slab of metal? It's the honor of being an Olympic champion, if you want gold go to a coindealer or something.

That is a good point. Only a select few can make it to the Olympics and out of that select few that make it to the Olympic games, only a few can become Olympic champions in their event. However, anyone can find and buy gold-plated .999 silver if they look hard enough in the right places.

[shades]

I'm surprised people don't know this. It has been this way for 100 years, according to Wikipedia:-

"The last series of Olympic medals to be made of solid gold were awarded at the 1912 Olympic games in Sweden. Olympic Gold medals are
required to be made from at least 92.5% silver, and must be plated with a minimum of 6 grams of gold.[5] All Olympic medals must be at least 60mm in diameter and 3mm thick.[6]"

Because gold is such a barbarous relic, we can only put about 1% of it on.. haha...

[Irons]

Were you training for the female hurtle team?

I was trying to get my heart into good enough shape to watch the female hurdle races.

[GOLD DUCK]

QWAK,HUMmmmmmmmmm IF the GOLD medal is SILVER with GOLD plating then the BRONZ should then also be SILVER with BRONZ plating!

With all the work and effort needed just to get to the olimpics the medal winners have at the very least EARNED that the medals they get have REAL INTRINSIC VALUE as implied by calling them GOLD SILVER and BRONZ!

In our FAKE WORLD today I supose it could be WORSE --- they could all be made of PLASTIC and facsimilies sold at your local Walmart for $5.00!

the DUCK

[honu5050]

now who would schlep em outa their gold hummmm.

[Apocalypto]

Yeah, this is nothing new and I'm surprised that so many people aren't aware of the intrinsically low metal values in those medals. The real money for an Olympic athlete comes from the endorsement deals. Once they start racking up those sponsorship deals, the gold content in the friggin' medal becomes an entirely moot point.

[honu5050]

is it also a moot point that the u.s. military purple heart is no longer gold ?

[Apocalypto]

is it also a moot point that the u.s. military purple heart is no longer gold ?

The difference is when you win an Olympic medal it's something to be proud of based on the fact that you trained for it, and won it in a fair and positive competition against the best competitors from around the world.

You get the purple heart for killing people for the bankers. It just doesn't have the same purport.

[honu5050]

same people run both events and their greedy cheapskates period .

[newmisty]

I was trying to get my heart into good enough shape to watch the female hurdle races.

[smilershouse]

Yes, it is a bit of a rip off is it not? I mean, here is the fiat value of an Olympic medal.

So, people winning Gold is only worth 6% more than Silver (2nd place) .................................Mathematically, it seems hardly worth the extra effort does it?

"Hey people, our country has won a GOLD".....................................Erm, no disputes GiM2, not really, its just a gold plated Silver round actually.

I am a ag bull, and although wishful thinking, I am waiting for the 2020 Olympics, when, A Silver medal is awarded for first place, and a Gold plated Silver becomes the runner up.

SH

[honu5050]

Yes, it is a bit of a rip off is it not? I mean, here is the fiat value of an Olympic medal.

So, people winning Gold is only worth 6% more than Silver (2nd place) .................................Mathematically, it seems hardly worth the extra effort does it?

"Hey people, our country has won a GOLD".....................................Erm, no disputes GiM2, not really, its just a gold plated Silver round actually.

I am a ag bull, and although wishful thinking, I am waiting for the 2020 Olympics, when, A Silver medal is awarded for first place, and a Gold plated Silver becomes the runner up.

SH

all proceedes will go to the dick Chaney gold heart fund $.

[Gold Rush]

It doesn't matter, when our olympians get home, they are just going to be asked to donate them to the Barack Obama reelection fund anyway!..Come-on Hope & Change cost's alot..so cough it up!

[smilershouse]

It doesn't matter, when our olympians get home, they are just going to be asked to donate them to the Barack Obama reelection fund anyway!..Come-on Hope & Change cost's alot..so cough it up!

Yeh like............Hey Jo Blow, there is no record of accounting for that PM, so hand it over..

just thinking aloud.

SH

[AZ Ag]

I find it very interesting that the Gold Medal has a Gold Silver Ratio that is about 60:1, at 6 grams of Gold compared to about 380 grams of Silver. This is very close to the GSR as currently represented in the existing market place. I don't know who determined what the composition of the Gold medal would be, but just find it interesting that it so closely mirrors the current market.

[Silver Art]

It doesn't matter, when our olympians get home, they are just going to be asked to donate them to the Barack Obama reelection fund anyway!..Come-on Hope & Change cost's alot..so cough it up!

I think I heard somewhere that some of them went on a scenic boating tour while wearing their Olympic metals but somehow got involved in a boating accident in the River Thames. The Olympic metals were never seen again after that horrific accident but the good news is that the Olympic athletes survived and and none of them were injured.

[Mr Paradise]

Starting in 2016 the silver medal will be the Chickasaw puck.

[platinumdude]

I'm puzzled as to why they didn't just use tungsten instead of silver.

[Irons]

Starting in 2016 the silver medal will be the Chickasaw puck.

.........................