Rio 2016 Medals Revealed: Recycled Silver and a Samba Wreath 🥇

The Rio 2016 Olympic medals were unveiled last week. Partially recycled silver and bronze, hand-applied laurel-wreath relief inspired by Brazilian samba — two design choices Thai event organizers can study before August.

Recycled Metal Is a Marketing Story

About 30% of the silver in Rio 2016 silver and bronze medals comes from recycled X-ray plates and mirrors. The metal performs identically; the story performs enormously. For your own event, asking the foundry whether they can certify a percentage of recycled feedstock costs nothing and unlocks a press angle that pure-virgin metal cannot match.

Hand-Applied Relief Reads as Craft

Rios laurel wreaths are not pressed by die alone — each gets a final hand-tooled pass to deepen the relief. The medals read tactilely distinct from machine-finished competitors. For Thai premium-event medals (King’s Cup, royal-anniversary medals), asking for a hand-tooled final pass adds ~฿30/medal at the top tier and produces visible difference under any light.