What’s The Value Of A 2012 Olympic Medal? [VIDEO]

Starting on Friday in London athletes from all over the world will chase the dream of Olympic Gold, to be the best in the world at their particular sport.The years of training, the commitment to excellence , the drive to be on the gold medal podium as they play your country's anthem is what every athlete dreams of. What is the price for this sacrifice? It depends on the medal you win. (If you win at all).

Think about this: Olympic Gold Medals contain about the same amount of gold as your wedding ring and are actually 93% silver. The medals that they'll be handing out in London weigh about 14 ounces but contain only about a fifth of an ounce of gold or just a little over 1%. (93% is silver the remaining 6% is copper).

1912 was the last time the Olympics gave away solid gold medals. The only requirement now is that the gold medal have at least 6 grams of gold.

So to answer the question on what's the value of an Olympic Medal?

If you add up the value of the medal's ingredients on the precious-metals market, a gold medal would be worth about $650.