Isn't it a bit poor that Olympic Gold Medals are only Gold Plated ?

Question

you dedicate you whole life to win one. Then when you eventually succeed the d**n things Gold plated.......... the tight sods :)

if only they got them from Argos :P they have 28 days to return them :) ......i better state to the purists the Argos bit is a joke !!!

Answer 1

It's not so much what they're made out of, but what they symbolize.

What you don't hear about is that certain athletes are offered millions of dollars for competing using certain equipment and meeting certain challenges set for them by the companies that endorse them. They don't need the actual gold - the endorsements are their gold.  

Answer 2

The jade in it is worth more than the metal.

Answer 3

If those things were solid 24ct gold, then you would have a synidcate kidnapping, robbing and murdering for those things, and they have all the names of those people who got them.  I taking a real guess here, but if they were solid gold, it wouild be worth 150K.

Answer 4

It is what it should be in accordance with the IOC rules!

Answer 5

Kinda stinks , yeah.

I've always heard that the bronze metals are actually worth the most out of the three , because they are actually bronze.

Might be a rumor though. I'll check.

edit

Probably a rumor , I did find an article defining the content of the gold and silver medals.

Answer 6

It's worth US $500.000

Answer 7

That's the way it has been for the last 70+ years even when gold was worth a lot less than it is now. I remember one story that an Olympic gold medal winner offered to turn his medals into his government for the gold content during World War 2, only to find out they were actually just gold plated. So this is nothing new.

Answer 8

they are pretty big, if they were solid gold everyone who won one would have a sore neck.  Wonder what they are underneath mmm...

Answer 9

yeah i agree i think it's kinda cheap

Answer 10

have you seen the price of gold?

Answer 11

It would seem, this has always been the way with gold medals, they are always 'only plated' there are one or two exceptions such as the Lorentz Medal, the United States Congressional Gold Medal and the Nobel Prize medal which are made of solid gold

Answer 12

At least people won't be breaking into their houses to nick them.