The Sochi Olympic medals have a diameter of 100mm, and a thickness of 10mm. The minimum requirements are 60mm in diameter and 3mm in thickness. As you can see, these new medals more than meet the IOC standards. The gold medal has a weight of a whopping 531g. This includes 6g of gold, and 525g of silver. The silver medals are 525g, as they lack the 6g of gold. On top of that, instead of the standard 925 silver requirement, these medals are 960 silver, meaning that they are greater in silver content than normal. These are very heavy medals. In contrast, the 2006 Turin Olympic medals were 107mm in diameter and weighed 469g.
Here's the really interesting information. There are approximately 1,300 medals to be given out, including those for the Paralympic winter games. They were made by a Russian-based jewellery company named Adamas. It took a team of 30 jewellers and engravers to create the medals. Each medal took approximately 18 hours to create, over the course of several months.
Even more interesting still is the amount of material used to create the medals. Over 2 tons of silver were used to make these Olympic medals, which is equal to 2,000kg, or 2,000,000g. According to today's market, this amount of silver is worth approximately $1,300,000 US. Another 6kg of gold is used for the gold medals, equaling 6,000g and a dollar figure of about $243,000 US. These amounts of money only pertain to market value of the materials, and do not even include labor costs, of which, I'm sure, are very hefty.
Personally, I love the designs of these medals. I think that they are some of the best Olympic medal designs. They look very creative, and I do believe that their designs do have application in jewellery-making.
I still have at least one more story regarding Olympic medals, and I think that it's the most interesting one of all. Stay tuned and keep reading our page. You won't want to miss this one!
By Joseph Garabet
Levant Jewellery
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