Olympic "Gold" isn't really gold is it?

[Tesclo]

It's not about gold. It's about the meaning that comes with it.

If it's not about gold then why does everyone want gold? If it's not about competition then why does everyone want 1st? All I'm saying is that if you're going to train your entire life to compete within the olympics, the reward should be more than a few minutes of air time and the feeling of being 1st place. American football players train for on average 4 years in highschool and 3 years in college. They usually land atleast a million dollar contract afterwards. You're telling me that training your entire life is only going to land you a $500 trinket? What's the point?

[semaphore]

Good job on missing just about every single point of holding the Olympics.

[vizzle]

If it's not about gold then why does everyone want gold? If it's not about competition then why does everyone want 1st? All I'm saying is that if you're going to train your entire life to compete within the olympics, the reward should be more than a few minutes of air time and the feeling of being 1st place. American football players train for on average 4 years in highschool and 3 years in college. They usually land atleast a million dollar contract afterwards. You're telling me that training your entire life is only going to land you a $500 trinket? What's the point?

To know that you're an Olympic fucking gold medalist. How many people out there are Olympic gold medalists? It's not about leaving the event and then trying to sell the medal for as much as you can, it's about having that memory and having your name in the record books forever. It's about a sense of self-pride, that you're the best in your event in the entire world. Anyone can go buy gold.

[Fuzzzie]

judging by the size of the medal, if they were pure gold they would cost a bloody fortune. If the medal was only a pound it would cost over $18,000 US.

even coins dont use the metals they used to. Pennies aren't copper as they once were because a copper penny costs more than it's worth. Even the alloy they use now costs 1.4c to produce. Canada just stopped producing them this year.

[Tesclo]

To know that you're an Olympic fucking gold medalist. How many people out there are Olympic gold medalists? It's not about leaving the event and then trying to sell the medal for as much as you can, it's about having that memory and having your name in the record books forever. It's about a sense of self-pride, that you're the best in your event in the entire world. Anyone can go buy gold.

How do you really know you're the best in the entire world if the entire world isn't permitted to compete? Kurt Angle was an Olympic gold medal winner... he became an average pro westler. I just don't see the big deal. When the olympics started it was to see who was the best in the land and anyone was able to compete. Now we spend billions on lackluster displays to hand out trinkets to people that, for the most part, deserve much better.

[vizzle]

How do you really know you're the best in the entire world if the entire world isn't permitted to compete? Kurt Angle was an Olympic gold medal winner... he became an average pro westler. I just don't see the big deal. When the olympics started it was to see who was the best in the land and anyone was able to compete. Now we spend billions on lackluster displays to hand out trinkets to people that, for the most part, deserve much better.

You're being nitpicky. Of course you can't compete with everyone who could potentially be better than you, but the grand stage is the Olympics. No one will ever dispute that you're amazing at what you do if you have that medal around your neck. And nobody is spending billions on medals, stop that nonsense. The billions are for city development.

[Fuzzzie]

How do you really know you're the best in the entire world if the entire world isn't permitted to compete? Kurt Angle was an Olympic gold medal winner... he became an average pro westler. I just don't see the big deal. When the olympics started it was to see who was the best in the land and anyone was able to compete. Now we spend billions on lackluster displays to hand out trinkets to people that, for the most part, deserve much better.

I can't argue that athletes don't deserve better, but the medal is a symbol of an accomplishment, not the accomplishment itself.

[steveyboy]

How do you really know you're the best in the entire world if the entire world isn't permitted to compete? Kurt Angle was an Olympic gold medal winner... he became an average pro westler. I just don't see the big deal. When the olympics started it was to see who was the best in the land and anyone was able to compete. Now we spend billions on lackluster displays to hand out trinkets to people that, for the most part, deserve much better.

Kurt Angle is still one of the best wrestlers in proffesional wrestling going. He has always been very good at what he did.

Hell he was going to try out for the olympics this year if it wasn't for injurys and him being 40+.

[Tesclo]

I can't argue that athletes don't deserve better, but the medal is a symbol of an accomplishment, not the accomplishment itself.

The point I'm trying to make here is that we could have done without the event, the security, and all the billions spent on God knows whatever else and actually handed these men and women something of true value. Instead, what was once a game meant to entertain and prove your worth, has turned into a political stunt based on tradition. Let's go back to the point I brought up earlier. American football players train, on average, for 7 years. They are then signed to a multi-million dollar deal. These men and women train their entire lives and walk away with nothing more than a reputation. Did we really need marry poppins? Or could we have put a bit more than 1.34% of real gold in the reward?

[Garnier Fructis]

According to a quick Google search, the last time an Olympic gold medal was made of actual gold was in 1912. Since then, the gold medals are made mostly with silver.

This isn't something new or outrageous. This is making a fuss out of nothing.

Edit: If you think the gold content of the medal dictates its value, I think you're missing the point.

[koodledrum]

The gold content is a misunderstood thing - in modern times as the price of gold has risen they've created the medals of secondary metals and coated them with gold, as Fuzzie pointed out, a pure gold medal would be massively high in price and when you're going to give out over 300 of them it makes no sense from an economics standpoint to create them in pure gold.

However it doesn't matter what percentage of the "gold" medal is gold, it's still an Olympic gold medal, that will mean more to an athlete than any amount of money because of what it is, most of us can't even comprehend the amount of effort it takes to win one of those things, hell I dare say half of us struggle to drag ourselves out to the gym atleast once a month, never mind having to do that EVERY DAY. As has been pointed out, it's not short term, it's long term gain - yes the balance sheet right now reads a massive minus, but in 10 years time that will most likely break even & London will be left with a world class velodrome, world class aquatics centre & another world class soccer stadium. On top of that the urban regeneration of the area (it was an industrial wasteland & fridge/freezer dump) combined with the knock on effect of having an international class event to inspire the local (for example inspiring children to take up sport, leading to less obesity) population leads to fringe benefits - not to mention the infrastructure investment which in London will pay for itself inside 2 years.

The other way to look at it is this, say London puts on an immense games, everyone raves about it - in a few years time The FA decide "hey, lets apply to host Euro 2020", UEFA look at that and say "sure, why not!" - it's a lot more likely we'll attract more high level athletic events in the next 5 years, thus bringing MORE money to the economy.

[mitbrandir]

Dude, it's a SHOW. It's meant to cost money - by 'show' I'm referring to the olympics. It's for FUN. Or do you not get the meaning of fun? Sure, competitiveness is involved too, but it's about bringing the nations of the world together.

Fun is when you enjoy something. I dont exactly see fun when i see people walking away , crying , because they didnt make it to the finals , or they lost. Those sporters there don't care about the fun but only about the fame of achieving such things.

[vizzle]

The point I'm trying to make here is that we could have done without the event, the security, and all the billions spent on God knows whatever else and actually handed these men and women something of true value. Instead, what was once a game meant to entertain and prove your worth, has turned into a political stunt based on tradition. Let's go back to the point I brought up earlier. American football players train, on average, for 7 years. They are then signed to a multi-million dollar deal. These men and women train their entire lives and walk away with nothing more than a reputation. Did we really need marry poppins? Or could we have put a bit more than 1.34% of real gold in the reward?

When will you understand that the budget of the Olympics isn't supposed to be allocated to useless medals? Countries aren't going to fight for the Olympics bid so that they can spend all their money into gold. Countries make amazing Olympic events because they spend the money on infrastructure. We wouldn't have all these gigantic stadiums or the security (have you ever heard of terrorists?) if we wasted all the money on gold pieces. It's not about the gold, and athletes realize this. It's about the recognition. No one gives a crap if it's really gold or not.

[Tesclo]

According to a quick Google search, the last time an Olympic gold medal was made of actual gold was in 1912. Since then, the gold medals are made mostly with silver.

This isn't something new or outrageous. This is making a fuss out of nothing.

Edit: If you think the gold content of the medal dictates its value, I think you're missing the point.

Just because something isn't new doesn't mean it is just. I know very well the point of the olympics and it's not what is being shown on my tv. I know the historical origin of the olymics and it was never used to justify a war as it is now. Don't believe me?

http://prairiepundit.blogspot.com/20...attack-at.html

[vizzle]

Just because something isn't new doesn't mean it is just. I know very well the point of the olympics and it's not what is being shown on my tv. I know the historical origin of the olymics and it was never used to justify a war as it is now. Don't believe me?

http://prairiepundit.blogspot.com/20...attack-at.html

I like how you, the person complaining we spend too much money on security, links a blog showing terrorist threats to the Olympics... what do you think the security is for...

[Tesclo]

When will you understand that the budget of the Olympics isn't supposed to be allocated to useless medals? Countries aren't going to fight for the Olympics bid so that they can spend all their money into gold. Countries make amazing Olympic events because they spend the money on infrastructure. We wouldn't have all these gigantic stadiums or the security (have you ever heard of terrorists?) if we wasted all the money on gold pieces. It's not about the gold, and athletes realize this. It's about the recognition. No one gives a crap if it's really gold or not.

I don't believe in terrorists. Infact, I place them in the same category as the Easter Bunny and UFOs. Fact is, you have a better chance of being killed by a bee sting than an actual terrorist. Until those statistics change, I'd advise governments not to bankrupt themselves in the name of a boogeyman.

---------- Post added 2012-07-30 at 03:33 PM ----------

I like how you, the person complaining we spend too much money on security, links a blog showing terrorist threats to the Olympics... what do you think the security is for...

You obviously didn't understand what I wrote.

[vizzle]

I don't believe in terrorists. Infact, I place them in the same category as the Easter Bunny and UFOs. Fact is, you have a better chance of being killed by a bee sting than an actual terrorist. Until those statistics change, I'd advise governments not to bankrupt themselves in the name of a boogeyman.

Yeah, I thought this was going to be a serious discussion. I should've known to leave when you showed no understanding of the Olympics and the real value of the medal.

[Tesclo]

Yeah, I thought this was going to be a serious discussion. I should've known to leave when you showed no understanding of the Olympics and the real value of the medal.

Here's your sign: http://www.infowars.com/americans-ar...by-terrorists/

[Fust]

The fact that it is an Olympic medal makes it far more valuable than the salvage metal alone. That being said, the athletes are not competing to acquire a medal just to scrap it for some cash. The monetary value of the Olympic gold/silver/bronze has no weight on the prestige of the medal itself, or the importance that is has to those competing for them.

Also a solid gold medal of that size would cost a load of money, and they give out a lot of medals during the games ;D

Was my comment removed or is mmo-c messing up?

[Psilar]

People saying, "oh you're missing the point if you think it should be gold."

I believe, the point in it being called a gold medal, is because gold is the shit. The best athletes got the best rewards, and the best reward was gold. It's very true it's entirely symbolic now, which I think, is too bad. It didn't start off as symbolic - the best deserve the best.

This thread got me thinking. The NFL fronts up to $5000 for Superbowl rings. Some modern rings being appraised at upwards of $20,000.

The said thing about this is the fact that the Olympics used to cost money because it was an honor. Now people just want to make money on it....