Gold medals are priceless to Olympians who have worked hard to qualify for the Olympic Games. But now spectators are wondering, how much are these medals really worth?

The Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games Finally Kicked Off

A year after the COVID-19 pandemic brought major events to a standstill, it finally took place on July 23.

In front of the whole world, around 10,000 athletes from 205 National Olympic Committees will compete to win medals in 33 sports. With 339 medal events spread over 42 venues in Tokyo, Japan, athletes will compete for gold, silver, and bronze medals.

For the Tokyo Games, about 5,000 medals were produced, each of which was made from recycled materials. More than 400 submissions from professional designers and design students were used to choose the medal design.

Twitter User Highlights That Gold Medals Aren't Worth As Much As We Might Think

CaucasianJames pointed out that flogging an Olympic gold medal for $820 (£588) would not even pay the cost of rent, saying: "These poor Olympians, we gotta give them Teslas instead or something."

One of his followers suggested that they "would have to win seven gold medals to pay for my 2013 Mini Cooper with hail damage."

Another said that organizers should "replace Olympic medals with chocolate coins at this point."

Someone else commented: "How[are] they [going] say it's priceless, then list the exact price, not even a full sentence after."

A fourth said that the cost isn't enough to cover a speeding ticket: "wouldn't even cover Georgia's speeding ticket smh."

How Much Are Gold Medals Worth?

According to NBC, precious metals are now worth considerably more than they were three years ago due to inflation.

The 6 grams of gold and 550 grams of silver in this first-place medal are estimated to be worth $353 and $466, respectively.

Although the Tokyo Olympics medal contains about 30g less silver, this is thought to be worth $265 more than the 2018 medal at the time of the Pyeongchang Opening Ceremony.

Great Britain has won five gold medals, six silver medals, and five bronze medals in Tokyo thus far, totaling around £4,500.

Interestingly, according to the Mirror, it's a different story when it comes to selling them, and they can be sold for hundreds of thousands of pounds to the right buyer.

But as you might imagine, athletes seldom sell their medals since they are so unique and irreplaceable.