The Olympic games have started in Rio with a blaze of green and the one element foremost in the minds of competitors and spectators alike is gold.

The first recorded evidence of Olympic games shows that an event was held in Olympia Greece in 776BCE. The only event was the men’s 200m sprint. The first marathon was run 286 years later, not as a race but by the messenger Pheidippedes who ran 42km from Sparta to Athens to bring the news of the Greek victory at the battle of Marathon. It was not until 1894 that the International Olympic Committee was founded in France by Baron Pierre de Coubertin who suggested that the Olympics be re-established as an international four-yearly event hosted by a different country each time.

During ‘Rio 2016’, which runs from 5 to 21 August, over 11 000 athletes from 206 National Olympic Committees will compete for 306 gold medals. All have overcome concerns about the Zika Virus and will momentarily forget the Russian doping scandal.

Although Rio is bursting with cultural overflow and diversity, the one thing that unites everyone is the dream of gold. Lifelong ambitions will either be achieved or defeated, generating the entire spectrum of emotions from euphoria to dejection. However, for many, just the honour of qualifying to compete is sufficient elation to last a lifetime.

Few treasured memories or possessions outlive a lifetime – but gold is certainly one of them. Valued for its natural beauty and scarcity, gold has become an international symbol of achievement. To this day, it holds first position as the world’s oldest class of asset – and as a currency, has outperformed all others this century. Like the Olympics, gold retains the power to inspire and enthral.

But what does gold mean for the man in the street, the many millions that will never see the inside of an Olympic stadium? Will it simply represent an unreachable pinnacle – an aspiration for the special few? Certainly not – unlike the achievement of gold at the Olympics, never has it been so easy for individuals to possess gold!

This is where Metal Concentrators SA (Pty) Ltd (Metcon) have gained a prominent position in the race for gold. As the country’s largest independent refiners of gold, silver and platinum, they now offer stylishly minted bars and medallions through their online boutique specialising in precious metals.

Just as the Olympics have induced a broad array of sentiments, so too has gold been the instigator of worldwide sentiment relating to long-time value and meaningfulness. In a society with a predisposition towards status, gold has become the standard by which excellence is compared. And over the last few years, excellent describes the way in which gold has performed as a commodity of investment. During the last 12 months, the value of gold has increased 20.76% and over the last 16 years has increased by an impressive 388.25%.

But what about the future. Historically, gold has been influenced by a myriad of micro and macro factors, including interest rates, fiscal policies, political change and even natural disasters. However, analysts continue to disagree on trends moving forwards. Typically, there are two divergent opinions, those who hold a bearish viewpoint and the others who prefer a bullish outlook. Those in the first category (like Goldman Sachs), tend to have a constructive view on the US dollar, the ability to raise interest rates, normalise global monetary policy, and maintain a benign view on the global economy and inflationary risks. This philosophy lends them to be bearish about the future of gold.

Interestingly, those of us who are optimists for the future of gold, those with a bullish outlook, tend to have a more pessimistic view on the global economy and the unintended consequences of monetary policy without limits. We see the recent price action as the beginning of a multiyear bull run in gold.

What is evident is that the value of gold continues to rally as monetary policies without limits promotes instability and investor confidence in fiat currencies declines. The likely prediction is an improved opportunity to win. And that’s what the Olympics are all about – winning.

Never before has the adage been so true … you don’t have a chance of winning if you’re not in the race.

Written by Michael Pryke on behalf of MetCon.