Olympians participating in Tokyo 2020 compete for the chance to write a page in the history books and hopefully bring home a medal.
If you win a medal, be it gold, silver or bronze, it is priceless.
Former British heptathlete Kelly Sotherton, who won a bronze in the heptathlon in Athens 2004 and another in the 4×400 meter relay in Beijing 2008, told Citizen Free Press Sport that her medals are a reminder of how her hard work and effort paid off.
“I would never sell my medals,” Sotherton told Citizen Free Press Sport on Friday. “They mean a lot.”
Sotherton said she keeps her medals within easy reach rather than putting them in a frame.
“I think sometimes it’s nice to wear them,” she added.
When considering the design of the Tokyo 2020 medals, how much would they be worth?
The design of the medals changes in every game, and this time they are the work of Junichi Kawanishi.
Each of the gold, silver and bronze medals is 85 millimeters in diameter and ranges from 7.7 to 12.1 mm thick.
The gold medal is made of pure gold plated silver, with about 6 grams of gold for a total weight of 556 grams.
The silver medal is made of pure silver and weighs about 550 grams, while the bronze medal weighs approximately 450 grams and is actually made of 95% copper and 5% zinc.
At current prices, this means that the gold medal would be worth about $ 800 if melted, while the silver would be worth about $ 450 and the bronze about $ 5.
Price of medals from past Olympic Games
Earlier this month, a winner’s medal from the 1896 Athens Olympics sold for $ 180,000 at auction, Cuban shooter Leuris Pupo’s gold medal from the 2012 London Olympics fetched $ 73,200, and compatriot Iván Pedroso’s long jump gold medal from Sydney 2000 sold for $ 71,335. All three were sold by Boston-based RR Auction.
At the 1896 Olympics – the first modern Olympic Games – the winners received silver medals and the second won bronze, according to RR Auction.
But those prices seem paltry next to the $ 1.46 million that was paid for Jesse Owens’ gold medal from the 1936 Berlin Olympics at auction in 2013.
This medal is considered one of the most important in the history of the Olympic Games and is one of four that Owens, a black American, won in the 1936 games, spoiling Adolf’s planned display of Aryan superiority. Hitler
Olympians tend to keep the medals they have won, Richard Gladdle of London’s Baldwin’s auction house told Citizen Free Press Sport.
“They rarely go on sale,” Gladdle told Citizen Free Press Sport on Friday. When they go up for auction, it’s often for philanthropic reasons, Gladdle added.
The only Olympic medal Baldwin’s has ever sold was a gold medal from 1912, the last year they were made in gold.