Paris Olympic medals: What are they really made of and how much are they worth?
Gold medalist Ariarne Titmus of Australia displays her medal during the award ceremony for the women's 400m freestyle of swimming at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, July 27, 2024. (Photo by Xue Yuge/Xinhua via Getty Images)
Olympic officials have already been busy handing out medals during the Paris Summer Games.
The total number of medals – gold, silver and bronze – awarded was well into the low three figures as of early Tuesday evening, according to an official tally from the Olympics.
This comes after officials had a total of 5,084 medals made in preparation for the Olympics, which go until Aug. 11, and the Paralympics, which will take place Aug. 28 to Sept. 8.
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The three types of medals have different metals.
The makeup of the most highly-coveted of the three medal types – the gold – largely includes silver with 6 grams of gold plating, according to NPR. Meanwhile, the silver medal contains the precious metal it derives its name from, the outlet reported.
Copper, tin and zinc are reportedly the medals used for the Paris Olympics third-place bronze medals.
What company is behind the design of the Paris Olympics medals?
Olympics officials tapped LMVH’s Chaumet to come up with the design for both the Paris Olympics and Paralympics medals.
The jewelry brand sought to honor France and the Olympic host city, Paris, with its design for one side of the medals. To do so, it used a hexagon, a "series of rays" meant to represent "radiance" and a piece of iron from the iconic Eiffel Tower, LVMH explained in February.
On the flipside of the Olympic medals, they give "tribute to the Ancient Olympic Games in Greece, as well as the modern Games" by including both the Eiffel Tower and the well-known Acropolis, LVMH also said.
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"Thanks to Chaumet, the medal for the Paris 2024 Games becomes a veritable objet d’art, a jewel that brings together the radiance of Paris and the crowning achievement of all those who will ascend the podiums during the Olympics and Paralympics," Paris 2024 President Tony Estanguet has been quoted as saying.
Chaumet has belonged to LVMH since 1999.
Other luxury brands under LVMH’s umbrella have forms of representation in the Paris Olympics as part of its broader partnership with the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics.
Louis Vuitton, for instance, crafted the trunks meant to hold these Olympics’ medals
What is their worth based on the metals?
Oxford Economics recently put out value estimates for the three types of Paris Olympic medals that it said were "based on publicly available information regarding their composition and proprietary commodity forecasts" from the firm.
Looking at the metals (mostly silver) used to make the gold medals, one of the top Olympic awards is worth an estimated $1,027 for the Paris Olympics, according to Oxford Economics.
A silver medal could carry a lower estimated value, at $535, the firm figured.
For the third-place Paris Olympic medal, its estimate was $4.60.
Those figures, Oxford Economics said, did not factor in the "priceless" piece of iron from the Eiffel Tower incorporated into the gold, silver and bronze medals.
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The awards also feature an intangible quality due to the athletic feats required to receive them.
Paris Olympic medals will see their estimated worth go up over the next eight years, Oxford Economics projected, citing data on precious and industrial metal prices from its Global Commodity Forecast Service.
For example, gold prices will help drive how much a Paris Olympics gold medal is thought to be worth 10.6% higher by 2028 and 41.9% more on top of that by 2032, according to the firm.
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