Michael Phelps Continues To Make History; Total Olympic Medal Haul Valued At $10K

By Neils Christensen of Kitco News
Wednesday August 10, 2016 12:48

(Kitco News) - American swimmer Michael Phelps continues to make Olympic history, adding more gold medals to his illustrious career spanning four summer games.

Tuesday night, Phelps extended his career gold medal tally to 21 after coming in first place in the 200-meter butterfly and the 4X200 freestyle relay. One of the stats that is circulating at the Rio Olympics: Phelps has more gold metals than some countries including North Korea, Mexico and India.

Although Phelps’ achievement is unprecedented, it is interesting to note that the total gold content in all his medals combined equals about 4.4 ounces. You can’t really put a price on Phelps’ success; however, at today’s price, the scrap value of all his gold metals is around $10,000 as gold prices hover above $1,350 an ounce and silver prices above $20 an ounce.

However, the scrap value is chump change as the swimmer has a net worth of $55 million and has achieved one of the most lucrative post-Olympic careers in America. Also American athletes are paid $25,000 for every gold metal they win, so Phelps has already earned $50,000 at the Rio Olympics.

In early August, Kitco News interviewed Victor Hugo Criado Berbert, production manager of the Olympic medals at the Brazilian Mint, who noted that there are only six grams of gold in the Rio gold medal.

The precious-metals content of Olympic medals has been fairly stable since 2002, when the International Olympic Committee determined that each medal must be at least 60 millimeters in diameter and at least three millimeters thick. The gold medal must contain at least six grams of pure gold and the silver has to be at least 92.5% pure.

Phelps started his unprecedented medals run at the Athens Games in 2004, when he won six gold medals. Each medal weighed a total of 135 grams. At the Beijing Olympics, Phelps won eight medals with each metal weighing 200 grams.

Four years ago at the London Olympics, he won four golds and those medals weighed 400 grams.

This year the Rio Olympics boasts the largest medals on record, weighing in at 500 grams.

Source:Kitco