Olympic gold medals are worth more due to the high price of gold

The rise in the price of gold has made Olympic gold medals more valuable than ever. The medals, for which top athletes fought hard during the Games in Paris this summer, contain 6 grams of gold. Converted, they are worth about 825 euros each.

Gold prices reached a new record high in July, partly due to expectations that the US central bank will cut interest rates this year. Central banks' purchases of gold and growing interest from Chinese retailers also drove up prices.

In practice, Olympians don’t usually melt down or sell their medals. More valuable are the gifts countries give to winning athletes, such as money, exemption from military service, or cows. Carlos Yulo, who became the Philippines’ first male gold medalist last week, gets a fully furnished apartment.

Medals that do sell can be worth much more than their metal value. For example, one of the medals won by American athlete Jesse Owens at the controversial 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin fetched $1.5 million at auction in 2013.