How much is an Olympic gold medal actually worth?

Updated
How Much Is an Olympic Gold Medal Worth?
How Much Is an Olympic Gold Medal Worth?

If you thought Olympic athletes could one day hawk their gold medals to live a life of luxury once their sponsorship deals had dried up, then think again -- the coveted prizes are barely worth anything.

When medals first replaced trophies in 1904, it only took about ten years before manufacturers realized that solid gold medals were way too expensive to make.

Thus, they started mixing in metal fillers -- such as second place silver -- to bring production costs down.

Even though Rio's 2016 gold medals are purer than ever, they'll still barely contain any of the precious metal -- made by the Brazilian Mint, they'll weigh 500 grams (mostly silver) and contain only six grams of gold.

With the current price of gold, this makes the top prize at most Olympic games worth only about $600, as compared to more than $20,000 for the solid gold medals of the past.

Hopefully, no Olympians ever need to pursue a "cash for gold" scenario with their medals -- not only because they're not worth all that much, but also because that would just be plain sad.

Here's how an Olympic gold medal is made:

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