\nAlthough these words are related to one another they are of course not the same; the word metal is the parent word among the two.\u00a0 Here our their definitions:<\/p>\n
metal<\/strong> – a solid material that is typically hard, shiny, and malleable* As you can see medals are made of metal; this is why among these two words metal is the parent word.\u00a0 The most precious*** medals are usually made of precious metals.\u00a0 The term ‘precious metals’ refers to specific types of metal including: gold, silver, platinum and copper.\u00a0 They are considered precious because they are rare which makes them more valuable.\u00a0 As I’m sure you know some money was made from these precious metals in the past, but these metals are too precious and rare to make money out of these days.\u00a0 These metals are now most commonly used for jewelry and decoration and of course medals.<\/p>\n So, are the precious Olympic medals that athletes are competing for made out of real gold, silver and bronze?\u00a0 The answer is yes, but there is more to the answer than that.\u00a0 The last Olympic Games to give athletes gold metals made entirely of gold were the 1912 Stockholm Olympics.\u00a0 In this year’s Olympic games the gold metal must be made of at least 92.5% silver and covered with at least 6 grams of real gold.\u00a0 The silver metal must also be made of 92.5 % silver and the the bronze metal must be made from bronze (which is an alloy of copper) and can also contain tin.\u00a0 There is no platinum medal at the Olympics, although platinum is considered to be one of the ‘precious metals’.<\/p>\n The Medal Ceremony at the Olympics is where the top three athletes in the sporting event receive their precious medals.\u00a0 They are precious because they are made of precious metals, but also because of all the work the athletes had dedicated in their lives to winning this most prestigious**** medal.\u00a0 In the Olympic Medal Ceremony the first place winner stands in the center of the podium***** and receives the gold medal, with the second and third-place competitors standing by the winner’s side receiving the silver and bronze medals respectively. After the medals are awarded the national flags of the three medalists are raised and the national anthem of gold medalist’s country is played.\u00a0 I hope you get the chance to see one of these moving ceremonies and hopefully hear your own national anthem played.<\/p>\n *malleable = pliable; able to be hammered or pressed permanently out of shape without breaking or cracking You may have noticed how closely related the words medal (as in Olympic gold medal) and metal (as the metal silver) are in English.\u00a0 This is no coincidence.\u00a0 The two words are written and pronounced very similarly, you can hear the pronunciation of these two words here by clicking on each one: medal and…<\/p>\n
\nmedal<\/strong> – a metal disk with an inscription** or design that is made to commemorate an event or given as a award<\/p>\n
\n**inscription = a written message, often in metal or stone, as a lasting record
\n***precious = of great value
\n****prestigious = having high status
\n*****podium = a small platform on which a person may stand to be higher than other surrounding people<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2012\/07\/medals.jpg\")