How Much Gold Is Actually In An Olympic Medal?

Winning any medal in the Olympics is difficult to do. Just ask Lolo Jones. It takes hard work, determination, and sometimes even a little bit of luck to go your way. Which is why they can be very valued. But if you get your hands on one and look to sell it, you might disappointed in what you will probably get for it.

Now if it's a medal that someone famous won, that could be worth something. But if you're going based on the actually gold in the medal, you're going to be very disappointed.

There hasn't been a solid gold medal in over 100 years. The last time they were solid gold was the Summer Games in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1912. The 2012 medals are made of the following:

Gold Medal - 92.5 percent silver, 1.34 percent gold, and 6.16 percent copper. Worth about $500

Silver Medal - The gold is basically replaced with more copper and worth about $260

Bronze Medal - 97 percent copper, 2.5 percent zinc, and 0.5 percent tin, worth about $3

Based on those prices, it really does pay to finish first. Although I'm not sure what the medals in Rio are made of. But with how these Olympics are going, probably ground up dead fish and human feces made into a patty and hardened.