Gold medals, especially Olympic ones, are not solid gold. They’re usually made mostly of silver and then plated with a small amount of gold —typically at least 92.5% silver with around 6 grams of pure gold on the surface.

Quick Scoop

  • Base metal: mostly silver.
  • Coating: a thin layer of gold.
  • Why: it keeps the medal durable and much less expensive than a solid-gold medal.

A small detail

If you mean historical Olympic medals , the very early ones were different, but modern “gold” medals are generally gold-plated silver , not pure gold.

If you want, I can also tell you what silver and bronze medals are made of.