How Are The London Olympic Medals Made?
How Are The London Olympic Medals Made?
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CNN Tries To Explain The Process
How are the London Olympic medals made?
Click to viewCNN's Jim Boulden explains how the medals were made for the 2012 London Olympic Games.
The Royal Mints Takes It A Step Further
Diary Of A Medal Maker
Diary of a Medal Maker - Part 1
Diary of a Medal Maker - Part 1
It begins with a blank piece of metal. We take that blank, rough-cut disc, and we begin to apply our art. The edges are softened, the die is set, and the first strike is made. Immediately, the simple blank disc is transformed into a striking, but as yet unfinished, victory medal.
Diary of a Medal Maker - Part 2
Diary of a Medal Maker - Part 2
These medals are designed to be worn, and a medal cannot be worn without its mount. The mount must be securely attached as it will need to endure many years of proud display and the possibility of being swung in joyous celebration by its eventual owner. We meticulously attach each mount by hand, before passing the medal on to the next stage of production.
Diary of a Medal Maker - Part 3
Diary of a Medal Maker - Part 3
Once the medal is struck and the mount attached, each medal undergoes painstaking and precise finishing. Each medal must be perfect; no lesser standard would be acceptable. The processes we use for our fine coins are applied, by hand, to each and every medal to ensure a finish that we can be proud of.
Diary of a Medal Maker - Part 4
Diary of a Medal Maker - Part 4
Finally, and with a delicate touch, each medal is hallmarked and engraved. The ribbon is attached, and the finished medal is proudly boxed and securely stored prior to transportation and its eventual emergence to celebrate and commemorate the peak of sporting achievement on a stage viewed by the world.
Source The Royal Mint
Going For Gold (and silver and bronze)
Going for gold (and silver and bronze)
This year all 4700 medals are in London - safely tucked away in the Tower of London waiting to begin a journey that could end on the other side of the world. They were all made at The Royal Mint in South Wales before being shipped to London on 2 July 2012 with a highly secure police escort.
Bigger and better
They are the biggest and heaviest Olympic and Paralympic Games medals ever made, being 85mm in diameter and ranging in thickness from 8-10mm. The gold and silver medals weigh 412g, whilst the bronze weighs 357g. Each took 10 hours to make. Each was hand ribboned. Each was struck to the highest possible quality.
Chief Engraver, Gordon Summers, not only oversaw the whole process, he also made the master tools needed to turn the designs into medals. Instead of casting them, The Royal Mint struck the medals. Although striking is technically more difficult, it gives higher quality results.
Two innovative new processes
Normally the dies would be cut on an engraving machine. But this year’s medals are so large and the relief of the design so high, that the usual technique would not produce the world-class quality expected from The Royal Mint.
Instead, the die was cut and squeezed against a highly finished punch - an innovative new process created especially for the London 2012 medals.
The second new process, which included changing the shape of the die and the blank, was developed to ensure no metal was lost during striking.
Paul Deighton, LOCOG CEO, said: 'We're delighted to be working with The Royal Mint, a company established in the UK for 1100 years, to produce the London 2012 victory medals.
The Olympic and Paralympic medals are presented to elite athletes at the biggest sporting event in the world - a moment which represents the pinnacle of their career and we're pleased that they will be produced in South Wales.'
Source The Royal Mint
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