How much do 2024 Olympics in Paris medals cost? What are they made of?

A total of 10 countries picked up their first gold medals on Saturday, the first day of competition of the Paris Summer Games, the XXXIII Olympiad. China’s Huang Yuting and Sheng Lihao started by winning the first gold medals at Paris 2024 and by the time the action had concluded, Australia topped the leaderboard with three gold and two silver medals, ahead of China and Team USA.

Winning any Olympic medal is an achievement in itself and because their design is the responsibility of the host city’s organizing committee, they have a unique individual quality specific to each edition of the tournament. For example, the materials used to make medals at Tokyo 2020 were recycled through the Tokyo 2020 Medals Project. Japanese citizens donated small, unused electronic devices - old mobile phones, handheld games and other electronic devices. Rare earth elements inside them were retrieved then recycled.

Iconic Parisian landmark features in 2024 Olympic medals

A similar initiative was devised for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Each medal has been embellished with an original fragment of iron from the French capital’s iconic landmark, the Eiffel Tower, which was constructed between 1887 and 1889. Metallic elements that were removed from the tower during renovation work were conserved and the Paris 2024 Board of Directors found the perfect way to give them a new lease of life.

Parisian jeweler Chaumet was commissioned to design the medals, which feature a hexagonal centrepiece made of Eiffel iron and imprinted with the emblem of the 2024 Games, the Olympic flame and logo. Each piece features Art Deco lines fans outwards, symbolizing radiance.

As always, there is surprise on the reverse - Nike, the Greek goddess of victory appears in the center, flanked by the Acropolis of Athens and the Eiffel Tower.

There is certain strict criteria that must be adhered to in the design of Olympic medals - for simple economic reasons, Olympic medals are no longer made of pure metal. The last time that Olympic winner’s medals were made of solid gold was during the Stockholm Games in 1912. Immediately after that, organizers realised that it was simply too expensive to continue doing so. All Olympic medals must be at least 3 mm thick and at least 60 mm in diameter.

Requirements for Olympic medals

Today, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) states that Olympic gold medals must be comprised of 494 grams of silver and plated with around six grams of gold. That means the cost value of one winner’s medal would be around $935, based on the silver spot price as of 26 July 2024 ($28.14 USD/oz).

The price of Olympic gold medals has gradually risen over the years - 12 years ago at the London Games, the cost value was around $765 and in the previous Games in Tokyo, even with recycled materials, the the cost value was $815 per medal.

The Olympic silver medals awarded for athletes who finished second in their given event are made of solid silver, without any plating. So a 500g Olympic silver medal would cost around $475 to produce in terms of the raw materials.

The Olympic bronze medal, given to those who come third, like the gold medal, is plated and is the cheapest of the three to produce. It is comprised of 95% copper and 5% zinc or tin. The US copper spot price is currently $4.12 per pound (lb). A bronze Olympic medal would individually cost $3.90 in terms of the raw materials required to produce it.