Short answers, pulled from the story.
An Olympic gold medal is composed of at least 92.5 percent silver and plated with 6 grams of gold. The raw metal value at the 2020 Tokyo Games was approximately $800. Pure solid gold was used for gold medals only from 1904 through 1912.
The gold-silver-bronze sequence for first, second, and third place across all events dates from the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis, Missouri. At the inaugural 1896 Athens Games, winners received silver medals and olive branches, not gold.
Giuseppe Cassioli designed the Trionfo medal after winning an IOC competition launched in 1923. The design was first used at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam and remained on the obverse of Summer Olympic medals until the 2004 Athens Games.
The Greek press criticized the long-standing Colosseum image as a historical error, pointing out that the Olympics originated in Greece, not Rome. After 76 years, designer Elena Votsi replaced it at the 2004 Athens Games with the Panathenaic Stadium, which remains on Summer medals today.
The victory podium was introduced at the 1932 Olympics on the personal instruction of Henri de Baillet-Latour, who had seen one used at the 1930 British Empire Games. Before 1932, all medals were awarded at the closing ceremony while athletes filed past a stationary presenter.
The reverse of each 2024 Paris Olympic medal contains hexagonal tokens of iron taken from the original construction of the Eiffel Tower, engraved with the Paris 2024 logo. The medals were designed by jewelry house Chaumet and minted by the Monnaie de Paris.