The ManicaPost
An Olympic medal is worth glory and fame – just not very much cash.
The 500-gram gold medals earned by Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps and Simone Biles are nearly 99 percent recycled silver. They contain just 1.2 percent gold, mostly used as plating.
They are worth about $587 in current market prices.
“It’s a great honour and a great responsibility,” said Victor Hugo Berbert, head of medal-making at Brazil’s National Mint in Rio de Janeiro.
Each of the 5 130 Olympic and Paralympic medals took about 48 hours to make, said Berbert, who had an 80-strong team working shifts around the clock to get it all done.
The medals are the most sustainable in Olympic history.
Much of the silver is recycled from old mirrors and X-ray plates. The gold is free of mercury, which is often used to separate gold from ore and can poison local ecosystems if not carefully disposed of.
The last time athletes earned medals made of pure gold was at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden.
Nike, the winged goddess of victory in Ancient Greece, is minted on one side below the five Olympic rings, while the discipline for which the medal has been won is engraved along its edge.
The other side bears the Rio 2016 logo.
“It’s a sense of great satisfaction that our work will be worn on the chests of athletes who have given everything to win,” said Nelson Neto Carneiro, who has worked at the mint for over 40 years. – Daily Mail.
