By DPA,
Beijing : The gold medals awarded at the Beijing Olympics are mostly made of silver, the Games’ organising committee admitted Monday.
Each medal contains only six percent pure gold, committe secretary-general Wang Wei said. The rest is silver, he added.
Wang dismissed as “a joke” claims made by internet bloggers that the medals contained lead.
The raw materials for the medals came from Australia and were vetted by a state-approved testing authority to ensure they were indeed precious metals, Wang said.