I went ahead and looked it up. It varied over the years, but it looks like they standardized it sometime around the 1992 olympics.

Gold: 550 grams of sterling silver, plated with a minimum of 6 grams of gold

Silver: Sterling silver, which is 92.5% pure silver and 7.5% copper.

Bronze: Bronze, which is mostly copper.

edit: actually, although the gold medal has been at least 6 grams of gold for the last couple decades, the rest of the material for the 3 medals varied. They just went with silver for the base material for gold and didnt do anything crazy with silver and bronze in vancouver, but in other olympics they have used all sorts of different things, like sparagmite (a type of stone), lacquer, and even glass.

edit2: The vancouver medals are the heaviest (with the most metal content) ever given out, and among the most valuable in terms of the metal content.

This is cool, apparently these medals are also the first ones that aren't really flat or flat-ish at all. If you look at them straight-on they appear to be normal (and huge) circular medals, but from the side they are all warped and wavey, supposed to be like ocean waves. Apparently they are also all unique, no two of them look exactly alike.

http://www2.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/C...jt9Ya3bKkl.jpg

How would you like to be presented with one of these after a lifetime of hard work and dedication?

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_0FibfbNzlgI/St...jpg?imgmax=800

Congrats your medals were melted.

foil-wrapped chocolate candies?

Has anyone noticed in all of the interviews with the medal winners how FEW of them thank their country? I heard three so far, and not a single one said anything about their nation.

This is the Olympics. You are representing your country. You can at least mention them.

You're being too petty. Imagine being thrown in front of the cameras after having never experienced anything like that in your life. They are great athletes who every four years get a chance to be perfect. They have my respect whether they remember to say their country in a state of euphoria or not.

I actually disagree. The olympics SHOULD be a pure competition where we all celebrate their hard-fought personal achievement and the advancement of the sport. Competing for country is this arbitrary thing we force on them to make it interesting for the audience.

Now, I'll continue to cheer for the clothing that has USA written on it out of patriotism, but thats not what this ideally should be about. Its also why I have no problem at all with athletes defecting to other countries to get into the olympics. We certainly didnt refuse the silver medal we got 4 years ago in ice dancing when that Canadian chick defected to the USA. We actually passed a special law to make it happen in time for the olympics.

(aside from all that, Hannah Kearney definitely spent a lot of time talking about cheering for team USA)

Its not petty at all. And I totally respect them. But its the Olympics.

There's an emphasis nowadays on player above nation, and I don't agree with it. That's all. You can be your own athlete for the other 206 weeks you compete, but for these two you are your nation. That's my take on it.

I wonder if (especially with larger nations like the US, France, Canada, etc.) the athletes even feel like they're wining the medal for their country, or themselves. I know that sounds outrageous but it used to be different. Like the 1980 US hockey team KNEW they won that medal for their country. Do they feel that way now?

But yeah, its no disrespect, its just something I wish they would do. :-)

Do you think when Estonia wins a gold medal, that guy on the podium did it for himself, or his motherland? Its one thing to be recognized as an athlete, but in the Olympics you should put yourself in second place.

Honestly, what does the USA do for them, above and beyond what every citizen gets? I can imagine a Chinese athlete or Russian athlete being a little thankful, but the USA is one of the only major nations in the world that offers absolutely no financial support for the athletes whatsoever. They rely on corporate sponserships and charity, which really doesnt do much. I read a story the other day of a couple who were athletes for different teams, the girl was one of our qualified athletes, but she was hoping her boyfriend could make Canada's C-team as an alternate so they could qualify for some financial aid to help pay the bills.

These people have to train rediculous hours per week, often a couple hundred per month, AND work a part or full-time job just to live. A few high-profile athletes can score lucrative sponsership deals, but most of these US athletes basically take vows of poverty to pursue their sport. That doesnt really happen in most other countries.

This actually is going with how I feel. Its like the US doesn't care anymore. The individual athletes want to win, but very few people would care if the US doesn't win in Short Track speed skating or downhill. Other places aren't like that. That's probably why the athletes don't thank the US, is because the US (as a whole) doesn't appreciate them.

They ARE winning the medal for themselves. In a few weeks, the majority of people in this country aren't going to care or even remember them. But they will remember that moment for their entire lives, long after their athletic careers are over.

If anything, they ought to be thanking McDonald's and Visa in the interviews, and the other few sponsers who havent bailed out because of the recession. They help pay for travel to world cup events and some of their training expenses, but they still usually have to work for a living on top of that.

That's what I dislike. I guess there's to many superstars in the US for us to care about them.

Other countries treat their Olympians like we do Michael Jordan or Peyton Manning. They talk about the former greats like we do Babe Ruth and Ted Williams. I think that'd be cool.

Seriously, though, its not THAT big of a deal. Just a slight observation. I'm really not that patriotic, I just think the US watches the games with a lot less enthusiasm than pretty much any other nation. I think its because we invented Basketball, Football and Baseball. We kind of follow our own drummer.

Canada isn't very different from the US in that respect. Nobody cares about the amateurs outside of these few weeks, either.

I JUST heard a figure skating duo saying they're glad to have to have such nice costumes made by Nike and Ralph Lauren...lol. Once again, I really don't care, but its funny we were just talking about it and it happened. I wasn't meaning to be critical at all before. Just would like to see some props for your mother (or father) land.

I just freaking love the games. I love it when these small countries win one of the few medals they usually win, bringing home a gold when some years they don't get one. You know they know (and their country knows) it is a huge deal. And you can just feel the pride radiating off of them when they're standing on the podium listening to their national anthem, tears streaming down their cheeks while singing their country's song. THAT is what the Olympics are about. And like I said before, that is IMO the most perfect point in all of sports. Forget the Super Bowl, game 7 of the World Series, World Cup, etc. The Olympics are the PUREST form of sports, and I can't get enough. :-)

Its absolutely positively beautiful in every way.

Snowboard cross may be the best spectator sport nobody's ever seen... Canada with the silver in the men's event today, look for it tonight, they were amazing races.

I agree...that Vonn chick is smokin' hot. Those SI pics were yummy.

Snowboard Cross is now one of my favorite spectator sports. Amazing!

That relay speed skating event is nuts too. Lots of crashes.

Those weather-driven extra days of rest have apparently served her well. Vonn completely destroyed the rest of the field in a training run today.

Name the thing in this list that doesnt belong:

Figure Skating
Speed Skating
Snowboarding
Polar Bears
Alpine Skiing

Figure skating.

copy-pasting a post from some guy on another board that pretty much nails how NBC is handling this.

Well, they could make it a more challenging Olympic event by having polar bears on the rink ice with the figure skaters. :)

Why is having a broken thumb such a big deal in skiing? Tape the pole to his hand and let him go.

Swallowing all those sequins could be bad for the bear.

it's like nbc doesn't want you to actually see any of the olympics...

this shit should be on 3 channels, non stop...

POLAR BEARS IN 13 MINUTES!!! Weeee!

man, NBC just wont let go of that "You didnt give a crap 4 years ago and now your actually trying!" storyline.

and now they are showing me a video about polar bears with some ugly dyke named mary carillo....the video will be longer than the down hill event they just showed us 3 minutes of.....


what the **** does this have to do with the competition called the ****ing olympics....


thanks for sucking, nbc....you paid a couple of billion dollars to broadcast public television worthy spots on animals during the mother ****ing olympics....

I couldn't understand why, weeks ago, everyone was saying that NBC had already lost millions by showing the Olympics.

Now that I've seen their coverage, I get it. They were already factoring in the horrible ratings due to the stupidity of their coverage.

men's 500m speed skating spoiler alert:

Although we won the last two olympics, we didnt have a strong contender this year, and as expected we arent even coming close to medalling in the short race.

oh hey, wow we are actually going to cut to some live action... for pairs figure skating. Probably only because both american couples are coming up, then we'll probably go back to tape delay again.

It is if you're in Canada :D

While it's never going to be a tough-guy sport, figure skating it freaking amazing!!!

Looks like an LP I left on top of the radiator.

NOTE: for those of you not young enough to know... an LP is a record, historically made of pressed wax but more recently made of vinyl.

http://blog.sounddomain.com/photos/g...g/lp_to_cd.jpg

A radiator, in New England, was usually a steam-heated monstrosity that you learned to avoid bumping into.

http://www.wnyhandyman.com/wny/wp-co...iator-cast.jpg

And if you were a stupid child and put your record on the radiator, you were usually rewarded with this:

http://www.positive-feedback.com/Iss...rpedRecord.jpg

This is pathetic. They go to the speed skating event to report on a strange delay due to malfunctioning ice machines... except that delay happened hours ago, and the event continued on already.

To think, NBC could've made money if they'd just bothered TRYING to cover it normally without all the tape delay shit.

So what do you think one of those figure skating girls weighs?

I'm gonna cast my vote for 'The ideal weight' :rockon:

If you are irritated, try sending NBC a friendly little note offering tips and constructive criticism. I dropped them this line just now:

Good point. But wow, there's no fat, but plenty of muscle, so they can't be less that 100..

I miss the old school days of ABC's coverage with Jim McKay.

We've got at least 2 more years of this garbage. NBC also has London, but hopefully a different network will step up to take over for the winter olympics in Russia. ABC/ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNetc would be great for this.

Hell, I'll even take a flier with Fox, they couldnt do any worse.

Even CBS's coverage back in the 90's was better than this.

i sent them an email, but it was just one long string of profanity along with graphic descriptions of how i was banging all their moms since i couldn't watch any of the live olympics....

Here's an encouraging article, Fox and ESPN are both going to make a bid for 2014 and 2016

http://www.businessweek.com/news/201...uver-loss.html

Looks like the past practices of NBC using their affiliates to show live coverage is not really happening this year outside of hockey.

Yea, they did that alot during the 08 Summer games.


Of course, there are alot more events in the Summer games than the Winter games.

I luv me sum Snowboard Cross!

Outside of these Olympics does anyone watch NBC? My guess is with all their declining ratings they won't be able to afford the Olympics after 2012.

men's 500m speed skating is over. Korea gold, Japan silver and bronze, USA doesn't finish higher than 12th after winning it the last 2 olympics. We weren't expected to compete this year anyway.

Interestingly, Shani Davis withdrew after the first of two runs. He wasnt there to seriously try to win, he apparently wanted to use the event just to practice for the 1,000m on Wednesday. (He holds the world record and is the defending olympic champion in the 1,000m)

wow, this russian couple had a complete meltdown

the chick fell on two jumps and then when he threw her she just fell and slid....

So... I'm guessing some dude who was bored with skating poured oil all over the ice to make it more entertaining.

They should keep their focus and finish as strong as possible, because there's got to be something wrong with that ice. For all we know, both chinese pairs might fall too.

Why is it the announcers feel the need to talk all over the performances in figure skating by nitpicking every ****ing detail until a skater falls then they are magically quiet?

When you fall, your pretty much out, so no need to go on. Its like after the leader crashes in snowboardcross, you dont stay with him and comment on his 4th-place run the rest of the way.

The "nit-picking" is necessary because I dont have a clue that someone "doubled" a jump or that a lift ended too early, or whatever.

I'm definitely no expert, but I find it very easy to see the mistakes without the announcers pointing them out. Maybe it is just because I am always so annoyed by them I have learned more than I need to know on the sport though.

I watch Sunday Night football but not the pre-game show. It's too bad they can't do Monday Night Football too. Espn's Monday Night Football sucks.

You guys watched figure skating? Damn. That's hardcore. I'd rather watch women's basketball.

Hockey starts today!! PBJ PBJ PBJ

Terry Bradshaw doing the figure skating commentary would be awesome.

I'm just glad that the German team didn't win. Those clown costumes from the short program made me have bad dreams. Freakin' evil German clowns with razor sharp blades on thier feet.....

http://nimg.sulekha.com/sports/Origi...-3-7-40-16.jpg

I'd f**k that clown.

(The one in the air, just to be clear.)

And if that gif of the clown-dad bangin' his daughter unknowingly didn't give you nightmares, then this probably won't. :D

I hate all this country switching that athletes can do now. We had a Montana boy win the gold in the Nordic Combined...for France.

Curling update: Match is halfway over, USA men and Germany are tied 3-3

For those who dont know, I guess the USA men are seeded #3, and presumably has a chance at some kind of medal. The USA women are seeded #6, which I guess means they are a longshot.

Women play against Japan later today, and the Men have another match against Norway tonight.

Curling. That's the game that's like bocci on ice, with giant heavy marble pucks, right? Who the f**k invented that one, anyway? ROFL

I don't know who invented it, but it's pretty big in Canada. When I played hockey we took a trip up north to Alberta and played in front of an almost empty arena because the curling finals were going on across the street and everyone was there watching.

it's all about watching people crack under pressure...they wait 4 years for the opportunity and then 30 secs into the routine they go sliding across the ice on their ass and it's over.....their faces just melt


perverse, but fun....plus german clown costumes

you might use spoiler tags...although maybe curling is never going to be on prime time so then it wouldn't really matter...

Nope, this is on live on USA network. Theres no way in hell this match gets replayed tonight.

Hockey!

cool...

Germany is guaranteed to score in the 5th of 10 ends, its only a question of how many points. The USA team has probably limited the damage to only 1 point unless Germany gets an amazing shot.

edit: they gave it a good try, but they failed to knock the USA rock out of the 2nd circle.

Germany 4-3 after 5 ends, 5 left to go.

6th end, both teams are basically trading shots so far, alternating between USA +1 and Germany +1 point

bad shot, Germany is at +2 right now, 7 rocks left

Germany +1, 4 rocks left

USA +1, 2 rocks left, USA will probably tie it up here

Germany +1, USA has the last rock. They will try to go for 2 points, but need to get at least get 1

This would be more fun if they got that announcer from the nordic-ski, so he could go crazy as the rock was coming to the goal end. :D

Total disaster. USA had the hammer, but Germany stole a point away and now will probably win unless the USA does something great in the last 4 ends.

Germany 5-3 after 6 ends of 10. I'm out!

I'm not a fan but I put up with it for the wife. It's amazing how many asses get busted on the ice. It seemed like 75% of them ate ice last night.

That snowboard cross looks like fun.

I also like rooting against all things Canadian. I don't have anything against them I just like watching them fail.

:spock: Uh... I'm pretty sure that's the definition of "having something against them". :D

Curling would be a lot more exciting if the contestants could throw hot chocolate at each other.

Curling would be better...

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