This year’s Olympic medals “are the first containing metal salvaged from televisions, circuit boards, monitors and electronic waste.” Both the “gold” and “silver” medals are actually 92.5% silver, while the bronze medals are mostly copper. The first-place medals (which are gold-plated) are valued at about $537; the second-place medals are valued at about $300; and the third-place medals are valued at $3.40. Cybermetrics calculated this year’s Olympics champion, by market value of the medals — Canada takes first place with a total haul of $9,635. (HT: Cyril Morong)[%comments]
The Medal Count, by Market Value
TAGS: olympics
and 
. You can also watch it on 
Okay, counting each medal for each team member, here is the top 10
CAN 81012.4
USA 50837.6
GER 30598.4
NOR 26245.2
AUT 16180.8
SWE 14715.2
KOR 12457.6
CHN 9846.4
RUS 9532.4
SUI 6491.6
Canada won 134 gold medals
I initially thought they were going to assign a market value based on the worldwide marketability of each sport, i.e. hockey would probably get a larger take than luge.
Most likely it’s too hard to determine those figures; certainly more controversial.
I have read that the IOC is one of the least transparent international organizations, so good luck with getting a copy of the budget for the Olympics. But we do know that something like $900 million was spent on security. That would include several hundred miles of fencing, salaries for several thousand police officers, rental of a few F-18 jets from the military, and so on.
Wow, that really shows the separation between Canada and everyone else. Almost as much as #2 and #3 combined!
This is an example of wanting to seem smart but not really being smart.
Because a smart person would understand that the “market value” of an Olympic medal is much higher than the salvage value of the metal it’s made from.
Yes, I understand what you’re getting at, but the fact that you didn’t accurately portray it from the start indicates either carelessness or intent to mislead.
Total medal count is a joke. Athletes don’t compete to come in second, third or tenth place. They compete to win. The loser of the Super Bowl or the Stanley Cup final does not get a ring, trophy or medal.
The silver and bronze medals are nice gestures to make the second and third place finishers feel a little better than those fourth and below. Many silver and bronze medallists were not that enthusiastic during the medal ceremonies.
Winning is everything we are told. If you believe that, then the country with the most wins – aka gold medals – is the winner. Based on that, for the 2010 Winter Olympics, the winner is Canada.
Michael
You’re not going to haul me before a senate committee, are you? Jeez, I thought everyone would just see this as being fun or funny. I had not intent of “proving” anything.
Cyril
Cyril,
I agree with you. I though it was just a fun little exercise. Apparently, some people take things WAY too seriously. Which is especially surprising on this blog.
Typical Freakonomics Blog Poster: How dare you not factor in the PPP for these calculations! And what about the time value of today’s winnings? And besides, what about the opportunity cost of winning those medals? How much does Sydney Crosby make per game?? Would Canada still lead??