PICTURE: RIO2010.COM
How much is an Olympic medal actually worth?
South African athletes bagged 10 medals at the Rio Olympics‚ a record-equalling number‚ two of which were gold medals won by Caster Semenya and Wayde van Niekerk.
A 2016 Olympic gold medal is not actually solid gold‚ but rather gold plated — so what are those medals worth if one of the winners wanted to sell them?
The Rio 2016 website said that the 500g gold‚ silver and bronze medals were "made with sustainability at their heart".
The athletes who topped the podium received medals‚ "made from gold that has been extracted without the use of mercury and which was produced according to strict sustainability criteria".
"The silver and bronze medals have been produced using 30% recycled materials. Half of the plastic in the ribbons which will be used to hang the medals around athletes' necks comes from recycled plastic bottles."
Fortune magazine reported this month that only about six grams of each gold medal was 24-karat gold and the rest sterling silver‚ which comprises 92.5% silver and the rest copper.
Fortune reckoned that makes the average gold medal worth around $366. That equates to R5 118 at Thursday's exchange rate.
Up until 1912‚ medals were made of solid gold which‚ if that still applied‚ would give them an estimated value of over R280 000‚ according to online trading site Gumtree.
Head of marketing for Gumtree South Africa‚ Claire Cobbledick‚ said the site had not had any Olympic medals posted for sale‚ however she believed that with 86 medals won by South Africans in Olympic history‚ including 25 golds‚ there must be many people holding items of immense potential value.
And the value goes way beyond the materials of which they're made.
"Genuine Olympic medals have huge value among collectors who snap them up at special auctions or from online trading sites‚" Gumtree said.
One of the four medals won by Jesse Owens at the 1936 games was bought for $1.47-million (R19-million) in 2013 by an American billionaire.
A 1980 Winter Olympics gold medal won by a member of the US ice hockey team which performed the famous 'Miracle on Ice' by beating the Soviet Union was sold for around R4 million.
Olympic medals won without a special backstory had "lower value" but still fetched between R60 000 for a bronze and up to R130 000 for a gold‚ according to Gumtree.
"American Anthony Ervin‚ who won the 50m freestyle swim at Rio‚ put his gold medal from the same event in Sydney in 2000 on eBay‚ the parent site of Gumtree SA‚ and donated $17 101 (R232 000) to victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami.
"Otylia Jedrzejczak‚ the 2004 200m butterfly champion from Poland‚ sold her medal for more than R1-million to raise money for children with leukaemia.
"Urkanian Wladimir Klitschko won boxing gold in the 1996 Atlanta games and auctioned the medal for $1-million (R13-million) to support his foundation for children’s sports camps and facilities‚" said a statement from Gumtree. — TMG Digital
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