Are Olympic medals real gold? Key facts behind the Paris 2024 medals

Over five thousand medals have been produced for the 2024 Olympics in Paris – but what exactly are they made of?

Paris 2024 have conjured up a unique design for their Olympic medals this summer, with each one containing a small piece of iron that was once part of the Eiffel Tower.

All medals are engraved with the name of the sport, the discipline and the event on the edge which are written in French on the Olympic medals and in English on the Paralympic ones, the respective official languages of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).

On each medal, original iron from the Eiffel Tower has been cut into a hexagon – the shape that has been used as a nickname for France.

The iron has been stripped of its ‘Eiffel Tower brown’ paint and has been left in its original colour. Also on the same side as the piece of iron are thin lines which are struck and help add shine to the medal.

On the other side of each medal, the goddess of victory Athena Nike emerging from the Panathenaic Stadium and the Acropolis are compulsory inclusions ordered by the IOC. Paris 2024 was also granted special permission to add the design of the Eiffel Tower in the background on the right side.

Elena Votsi, a Greek jewelry designer, is responsible for the redesign of the summer Olympic medals which have been used since Athens 2004.

The Olympic medal ribbons will be dark blue, while the Paralympic medals will be a deep red – a mix of the first two coats of paint – ‘Venice red’ and ‘red-brown’ used on the Eiffel Tower.

‘There was a huge amount done to try to bring together these precious metals – gold, silver and bronze – with the most precious metal in the Eiffel Tower, the jewel in the French crown. So what’s specific about the 2024 medals is that meshing together, that fusion, that alloy,’ said the president of the Paris 2024 organising committee.

‘What’s impactful for this year will be having a part of the original Eiffel Tower metal, the iron, in these various medals, and so this is what we wanted to do, to infuse all these 2024 athletes with that metal.’

Are Olympic gold medals real gold?

Olympic gold medals have some gold in them but they’re mostly made of silver.

According to the IOC, gold and silver medals are required to be made of at least 92.5 per cent silver.

The gold plating on the outside layer of the medal must consist of at least six grams of pure gold.

Meanwhile, silver medals are made of pure silver, while bronze medals are 95 per cent copper and five per cent zinc.

The silver used in first and second-place medals is a minimum grade of 925/1000.

Each medal has the same 85mm diameter and 9.2mm thickness, while the gold medal is four grams heavier than the silver, which weighs 70g more than the bronze.

The small piece of iron from the Eiffel Tower in each medal weighs 18g.

The cost of each gold medal at Paris 2024 is approximately £738, based on the current price of gold, silver and iron.

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