What Are Olympic Medals Actually Made From?

Over 5,000 medals will be awarded at the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, but are Olympic medals really made of gold, silver and bronze? What’s special about the Paris 2024 Olympic medal design? Do the Paris 2024 Olympic medals really contain pieces of the Eiffel Tower?

ARE OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALS ACTUALLY MADE OF GOLD? 

Olympic gold medals DO contain actual gold, however they are not solid gold – but they are, in fact, (almost) solid silver.

According to International Olympic Committee regulations, Olympic gold and silver medals must be made out of at least 92.5% silver, with gold medals plated with at least 6g of gold. Bronze medals are made mostly of copper.

Each medal must be at least 60mm diameter and 3mm thick, but each country’s organising committee is able to create their own bespoke design. They also feature a ribbon which is designed by the organising committee.

Depending on the price of the metals, an Olympic gold medal may be worth over £500, though to an Olympic champion it means so much more than its financial value. 

WHAT’S SPECIAL ABOUT THE PARIS 2024 OLYMPIC MEDALS?

For the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the medals feature a special extra material: metal from the Eiffel Tower. 

The medals at Paris 2024 are set with a hexagonal centre which is forged out of iron from refurbishments to the Eiffel Tower. As iron from the original construction, which took place between 1887 and 1889, has been replaced, it’s been stored in a secret location. For the Paris 2024 Olympics it’s been repurposed into the central design of the medals.

As Thierry Reboul, creative director of Paris 2024, explained: “The absolute symbol of Paris and France is the Eiffel Tower.” These medals are an “opportunity for the athletes to bring back a piece of Paris with them.”

The iron core sits in the middle of the medals which have grooves flaring outwards, evoking and reflecting light rays, and referencing Paris as the City of Light. 

The other side of the medal always represents the story of the original Olympic Games and depicts Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, with Athens’s Acropolis and Olympic Stadium behind her. The Eiffel Tower also features on the Paris 2024 medals. 

The reverse of the Paralympic medal shows a view of the Eiffel Tower from beneath its great expanse and has Paris 2024 engraved as well as raised in Braille, which was devised by Frenchman Louis Braille. 

All Paris 2024 medals were designed by Parisian jeweller Chaumet – it’s the first time a jewellery maker has been responsible for designing Olympic medals. 

The medals were made by the Paris Mint, the Monnaie de Paris, which mints all of France’s coins. The Monnaie de Paris also produced all Olympic medals for the original modern games in 1896, and then for many subsequent Olympics. 

Want to know a cool fact? At the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 there were only medals for first and second place, taking home a silver medal and copper medal respectively. Gold, silver and bronze medals were introduced from the 1904 Games. The gold medals at the 1904, 1908 and 1912 Olympic Games were all made of solid gold. 

And did you know that as well as the top three winning medals, all the top eight finishers in each event receive an Olympic diploma? 

Medal images ©Paris 2024