Gold and silver price surge, making 2026 Olympics medals most expensive ever

The recent surge in gold and silver prices to record highs will make the medals awarded at the 2026 Winter Olympics the most expensive in history.

The Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics officially begin on Friday and the value of the gold and silver medals that will be awarded to the winners and runners-up, respectively, have risen with the price of the precious metals.

The spot price of gold has risen over 70% in the last year, trading around $4,950 per ounce on Friday. In that timeframe, silver prices have surged 143% and the metal is trading around $76 per ounce as of Friday.

While Olympic medals have a clear sentimental value to the athletes who have typically spent years training to win them, that price surge increases the underlying value of the medals.

Samples of the silver, gold, and bronze medals of the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics are displayed at the Italian Mint in Rome, Italy, on Dec. 5, 2025. (Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters)

2026 MILAN CORTINA OLYMPICS: EVERYTHING TO KNOW ABOUT THIS YEAR’S WINTER GAMES

Medals that will be awarded during the Milan Cortina Olympic Winter Games are made by the Italian State Mint and Polygraphic Institute based on set specifications using metal that was recycled from its own production waste, event organizers said in announcing the design last summer.

All medals are 80 mm in diameter with a thickness of 10 mm – although the gold, silver and bronze medals have different compositions.

TEAM USA STARS TO KNOW AS THE 2026 WINTER OLYMPICS BEGIN

Tenor Andrea Bocelli performs during the opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy. (Mike Segar/Reuters)

Gold medals awarded at the 2026 Winter Games will have just 6 grams of gold in their total weight of 506 grams, with the remainder composed of silver. Silver medals are made solely of silver and weigh 500 grams. 

At a price of $4,950 per Troy ounce, six grams of gold amounts to about $955, while the 500 grams of silver are worth about $1,221 given a price of $76 an ounce.

Bronze medals are made of copper and weigh 420 grams (about 0.93 lbs). At a current market rate of $5.89 per pound, a bronze medal is valued at roughly $5.45.

US SKI STAR LINDSEY VONN STUNS IN OLYMPIC TRAINING RUN ONE WEEK AFTER ACL TEAR

Flagbearer Erin Jackson of United States in the athletes parade during the opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy. (Yara Nardi/Reuters)

Olympians occasionally choose to sell their medals, which can go for significantly higher prices at auction than the intrinsic value of the metals they’re composed of due to the novelty and scarcity of an Olympic medal.

Four-time Olympic gold medalist Greg Louganis, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest American divers of all-time, said in a social media post last year that he auctioned three of his medals – two gold medals from the 1984 and 1988 Games and a silver from the 1976 Montreal Olympics – to help finance a move to Panama. According to SwimSwam, the auction earned Louganis more than $430,000.

GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE

Swimmer Ryan Lochte in action during the Men’s 200M Individual Medley Final at Kazan Arena in Kazan, Russia in 2015. (Thomas Lovelock /Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)

Swimmer Ryan Lochte – who won six gold medals, three silver and three bronze across four appearances at the Summer Olympics – sold three of his golds at auction last month for $385,520.

Fox News Digital’s Paulina Dedaj contributed to this report.