After the Opening: A Deep Dive on Olympic Medal Manufacturing ⚒️

Monnaie de Paris struck the 5,084 Paris 2024 medals over 18 months. The process is essentially the same as any factory mass-producing race medals — at a different scale and with one famous extra ingredient.

Striking vs Casting

Olympic medals are struck (a forged metal blank pressed under hundreds of tons between two engraved dies) rather than cast. Striking produces sharper relief and a denser, more durable surface — but tooling costs are higher. For commercial medals, casting is cheaper and still photographs beautifully; for a 10-year perpetual award, striking is worth the upfront tool fee.

Plating Thickness Standards

Olympic gold medals are silver underneath with at least 6g of pure gold plating per medal — a thickness that survives a century of handling. Commercial finisher medals typically use 2–4 microns of gold-color plating, which is fine for display but wears at high-touch contact points. For a special award you want untouched in 30 years, ask for 10+ microns and a clear lacquer top-coat.