The 2,300 Olympic medals are currently being guarded at the Tower of London until the games begin, July 27. As it turns out, the Olympic gold medal is made mostly of silver.
The first modern day Olympic Games were held in Athens, Greece in 1896. King George I of Greece opened the competition, attended by 14 nations and covering 43 different sporting events. After they concluded, he urged organizers to allow the games to move around the globe to different host nations.
The Olympic games have not handed out solid gold medals since the 1912 summer games in Stockholm, Sweden.
The 2012 Olympic medals were made from nearly nine tons of metal from Rio Tinto's Kennecott Utah Copper mine in Salt Lake City and its Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia.
British artist David Watkins created this year's design on the front of the medal. The back depicts Nike, the Greek Goddess of Victory stepping out of the Parthenon.
The Royal Mint in South Wales pressed the medals in a 10-hour process that requires a 1,400°F furnace and nearly 1,000 tons of weight on a special press.
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