THE gold medalsthat will be awardedin London this year will be the biggest and heaviest handed out at any summer Olympics. At 400 grams (14 ounces) they will be 17 times heavier than at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm. On the other hand, the 1912 games were the last one where gold medals were made entirely of gold. Now they consist mainly of silver with a thin coat of gold—6 grams is the minimumrequirement. The London medal will have a gold contentof only about 1.5%, and at current prices will be worth $706. Calculations by The Economist find that this is much more than the "podiumvalue" of any previous gold medal (based on estimates of the compositionof medals and bullionprices at the time, adjustedfor inflation). This is partly because gold and silver prices are now historically high and partly because this year’s medal is so much heavier, even though the extra weight is silver rather than gold. For the first time, the silver in this year’s "gold" medal is actually worth more than its gold content. Moreover, if the metal content of earlier medals is valued at today’s bullion prices, the London gold is worth only just over half of those handed out in 1912.

　　2012年伦敦奥运会上所颁发的将会是史上也是最重的。每块重400克(14盎司)，其重量为1912年斯德哥尔摩奥运会的17倍。不过，1912年奥运会是一届采用纯金打造的奥运会。现在的主要成分是银，只在表面镀一层不少于6克重的纯金。本届伦敦奥运会的含金量仅为1.5%，折合现在的金价约为706美元(约合人民币4250元)。根据《经济学人》杂志的计算，伦敦奥运的价值将超过以往任何一届的价值(根据当时的成分和价值估算，并考虑了通货膨胀的因素)，因为现在的金银价格都达到了历史点，即使多出来的重量是白银而不是更贵的黄金。本届伦敦奥运会中的白银价值超过了其中黄金的价值，而且如果把之前含金量的价值按照现在的牌价计算的话，伦敦奥运会的价值仅比1912年奥运会的一半多一点而已。