Olympic medals are awarded for 1, 2, 3 places in competitions at the Games. It is a distinction for personal and team achievements. Previously, medals were hung around the neck of athletes, until 1960 they were made without fastening and handed over to their hands. The organizers of each Olympiad make their own original awards that differ from others.
The medals for the London Olympics are 8.5 centimeters in diameter and seven millimeters in thickness. These are one of the heaviest medals, weighing approximately 410 grams, for example, medals in Beijing weighed only 200 grams.
According to the rules of the International Olympic Committee, gold medals must contain at least six grams of gold in the form of a coating. These requirements were taken into account by the organizers of the Games in London, medals for first place contain a little more than one percent of the precious metal by weight of the entire award. 92.5% is silver, the remaining ingredient is copper.
The medals for the second place consist of 925 sterling silver and a small amount of copper. Components of bronze awards are all metals used in the manufacture of this alloy (copper and tin, but mainly copper). The Olympic awards of the Games in Great Britain are created using the "Casting" technology, which allows the production of medals of different diameters and thicknesses.
The awards were produced in London itself at the request of the Olympic Committee. The production of medals was very expensive for the UK, in recent years the prices of silver and gold have approximately doubled. These are the most expensive medals in the history of the Olympics. For the manufacture of awards, approximately eight tons of gold, silver and copper were brought to London, which were bought in the American state of Utah and Mongolia.
For the safety of the second of July, valuable awards were placed in the Tower of London. Now in this place are not only decorations of the British crown, but also about 4, 7 thousand Olympic and Paralympic medals.
But the awards are valuable not only for their composition, they have a unique design. The medals depict Nika, the Greek goddess of victory. On the other side is the Olympic Games logo with glowing stars in the background. The Thames can also be seen on the awards.
