Winter Olympics 2022 - What are Olympic medals made of? Why are athletes given Pandas on the podium in Beijing?

Petra Vlhova, Nathan Chen and Eileen Gu are among the stars to have claimed top prize on the world’s biggest stage at Beijing 2022, but viewers may have noticed a change in podium ceremonies. The medal ceremonies at Tokyo 2020 were switched up due to Covid regulations — which saw athletes having to put medals around their own necks — but that idea had seemingly been scrapped in Beijing. Instead, athletes have been seen awarded Pandas on the podium.

Ad/> Ahead of the Games, the official Olympic website announced that medals — named «Tong Xin», meaning ‘together as one’ — to be dished out to athletes will feature the «jade-inlaid medals of the Summer Games in 2008», to highlight Beijing being the first city to host both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games. /> Beijing 2022Beijing Today day 13 — Shiffrin struggles continue, Valieva falls short8 HOURS AGO However, some viewers will be surprised to discover that the prestigious Olympic gold medals are actually only 1.34% gold, so what are they actually made of? WHAT ARE OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALS MADE OF? The outer casting of the gold medals (what you can see) is made out of real gold, but underneath it’s almost entirely silver. They’re required to be made of at least 92.5% silver, and only need to be made up of six grams of gold minimum.

With 1.34% gold, the remaining 6.16% is made up of copper. At the Games in Tokyo, medals were made up of recycled electronic devices donated by the Japanese public. According to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), other must-have elements that have to be included on medals are the five Olympic rings and the official name of the tournament.