The Olympics are the most prestigious sporting event in the world, and the medals are hard to come by.
Over 10,000 athletes will compete for hundreds of medals in Paris this year. Participants can win multiple medals in different competitions, but only one per event. Each event hands out three honors: gold, silver, and bronze.
With so many medals handed out each Olympics, it raises the question: What these are even made of? Are they really gold, silver, and bronze?
The Sporting News answers those questions and more below.
What are Olympic medals made of?
Contrary to their name, Olympic medals are not just gold, silver, and bronze. Each is made up of multiple different materials.
Gold medals only contain about six-percent pure gold, while it is mostly made up of silver. The silver included has at least a 92.5-percent purity rating.
The silver medals also are made up of mostly silver with the same purity rating. The bronze medals are made of 95-percent copper and five-percent zinc.
The gold, silver, and bronze medals all include their namesake material, though the gold is certainly the oddest since it’s primarily silver with a touch of gold.
For the 2024 Paris Olympics in particular, there will be raw iron from the Eiffel Tower included on the medals. This gives Paris its own touch on the prestigious awards.
History of Olympic medals
Gold, silver, and bronze medals weren’t always the standard at the Olympics. The first Summer Games began in Athens, Greece in 1896, but gold medals weren’t introduced until 1904 in St. Louis in the United States.
Originally, first-place winners earned a silver medal along with an olive branch. Second place received a bronze medal with a laurel branch.
Which country has the most Olympic medals all time
The United States has dominated the Olympics throughout history. Its first-place total more than doubles that of second place and triples third place.
Second place is the Soviet Union, which no longer exists in its entirety. The U.S. has triple the amount of medals than the next-best active nation in the world, Great Britain. This includes Summer and Winter Games.
The United States has more gold medals (1,175) than Great Britain has total medals.
| Rank | Country | Total medals |
| 1 | United States | 2,959 |
| 2 | Soviet Union | 1,204 |
| 3 | Great Britain | 950 |
| 4 | Germany | 922 |
| 5 | France | 889 |
| 6 | Italy | 759 |
| 7 | China | 713 |
| 8 | Sweden | 679 |
| 9 | Japan | 573 |
| 10 | Norway | 568 |