Badge of Honour

OLY061_P0050EDeng_2 04/03/2011 09:56 Page 50 OLYMPIC MEDALS BADGE OF HONOUR JOANNA HUNTER TRACES THE ORIGINS OF AWARDING MEDALS TO WINNING ATHLETES AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES AND LOOKS AT THE EVOLUTION OF THE DESIGN AND MATERIALS USED 50 O LY MP I C R E V I E W OLY061_P0050EDeng_2 04/03/2011 09:56 Page 51 OLYMPIC MEDALS sk any athlete what he or she is aiming for It is also the case that at the ancient Olympiads A at the next Olympic Games, and you can there were no medals to be won, and even at the be sure of one answer: a medal. Preferably early modern Olympic Games the winner did not gold. In fact, the word “athlete” actually comes from receive a gold medal. Winners at the ancient Olympic the Greek for “one who competed for prizes”. And yet, Games in Olympia received two kinds of award: a although we often talk about winners – who’s won the palm branch immediately after the event, and later, on most (surprisingly it’s not Michael Phelps; Larisa the last day of the Games, a sacred olive wreath Latynina, a gymnast from the then Soviet Union holds awarded at the temple of Zeus. When the Games were the record with 18 medals), who was the oldest reintroduced in 1896 the awards ceremony naturally (Sweden’s Oscar Swahn, for shooting, aged 72 years paid tribute to this: those who came first were and 279 days), or who was the youngest (either an awarded an olive branch, and those who came unidentified French boy who coxed the Dutch pairs second, a branch of laurel. Both competitors were also rowing team in 1900, or more officially, the Greek given a diploma, and a medal designed by French gymnast Dimitrios Loundras, who finished third at the artist Jules-Clément Chaplain – silver for first, and tender age of 10 years and 218 days in 1896) – we copper for second. Both medals were 50mm in don’t speak much about the medals themselves. diameter and bore the image of Zeus on one side and Left So you might not know that each medal is a the site of the Acropolis on the other. Inscribed in Canadian pair standard size: at least 60mm across and 3mm thick. Greek were the words “International Olympic Games Kaillie Humphries You might also be unaware that the gold medal is in Athens in 1896”. and Heather actually silver (at least 92.5 per cent) coated with at Even so, the medal wasn’t yet fully established as Moyse celebrate least six grams of 24-carat gold, or that the bronze a symbol of Olympic victory; four years later, in Paris, with their medal is mainly made up of copper. And while the first competitors were mainly awarded cups and trophies – bobsleigh gold three athletes at the Games receive a gold, silver and and one was given an umbrella. It wasn’t until the ➤ medals at the a bronze medal respectively, this hasn’t always been 2010 Winter the case (third to eighth places were awarded bronze Below The medals for the 1992 Winter Games in Games in medals in the individual fencing events at the 1908 Albertville were created in glass for the first Vancouver Games in London, for example). time and were entirely handmade O LY MP I C R E V I E W 51 OLY061_P0050EDeng_2 04/03/2011 09:56 Page 52 OLYMPIC MEDALS 1904 Olympic Games in St Louis that an Olympic In 1960, the Rome Organising Committee Below This created a new tradition of keeping the Cassioli athlete first won a gold medal. In 1907, the introduced a chain to hang each medal on (with the Ethiopia’s design on the obverse while each host city presented International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to exception of medals awarded in certain team events), Abebe Bikila its own design on the reverse. This continued until adopt a standard design for Olympic medals. The most an echo of the tradition of awarding poets and (centre) after 2004, when, at the Games in Athens, a new obverse consistent in form are those awarded at Summer intellectuals with chains that was popular in the Middle winning the motif – and a new summer medal tradition – was Games. From the 1928 Games in Amsterdam until Ages. So unsure were they of how this new measure marathon at the introduced: Elena Votsi’s design portrayed Nike flying Mexico 1968, all medals had one thing in common: might be received that the women presenting the 1960 Games in into the Panathenian stadium, where the Games the obverse depicted Nike, the goddess of victory. medals were also equipped with a pair of scissors, Rome, the first were first renewed in 1896, thus tying all Olympic In her left hand she held a palm and in her right, ready to snip away should the IOC disapprove. where the summer medals to the country of the Games’ origin the winner’s crown – a laurel wreath. In the lower Fortunately the opposite was the case, and now all medals were from then on. right-hand corner is a fragment of the Colosseum and Olympic medals are hung around the champion’s hung on a chain The medals awarded at the Olympic Winter inscribed above it is the number of the Olympiad, the neck, rather than presented on a cushion. Below right Games, by contrast, have been as wide ranging and name of the host city and the year. Symbolising The Organising Committee for the Games in Japan’s Naoko as wonderful as the athletes they were designed to victory, fraternity and universality, the design was Munich in 1972 took things a step further when Takahashi with reward. They have varied in shape – from relatively created by Florentine artist Giuseppe Cassioli, who it did away with the traditional reverse design her gold medal square shaped (Sarajevo 1984), to doughnut (Turin won a competition held by the IOC in 1921. The altogether and went Bauhaus: Gerhard Marck’s medal from the 2006) to “squircle” (Vancouver 2010). Some designers reverse side of the medal carried a depiction of an depicted two naked youths, Castor and Pollux; Zeus women’s have chosen to represent their cities and their culture Olympic athlete hoisted high by the crowd, with and Léda’s twin sons and the patrons of sports marathon in through symbolism – the medals awarded at Calgary the Olympic stadium in the background. competitions and friendship. Sydney in 2000 in 1988 for example, bear the motif of a native “SO UNSURE WERE THEY OF HOW THIS NEW CHAIN MIGHT BE RECEIVED THAT THE WOMEN PRESENTING THE MEDALS WERE ALSO EQUIPPED WITH A PAIR OF SCISSORS READY TO SNIP AWAY. FORTUNATELY THE OPPOSITE WAS THE CASE AND NOW ALL OLYMPIC MEDALS ARE HUNG AROUND THE CHAMPION’S NECK” Above right Australian cyclist Ryan Bayley with the Athens 2004 medal Right Double gold medallist Michaela Dorfmeister of Austria poses with the innovative and striking ‘doughnut’ medals from the 2006 Games in Turin 52 O LY MP I C R E V I E W OLY061_P0050EDeng_2 04/03/2011 09:56 Page 53 OLYMPIC MEDALS American headdress made up of ski sticks, a bob, skis, skate blades, a stick, a luge and a rifle. Many other designs however, have been more matter-of-fact, such as the Sydney 2000 medals which proudly portray the Sydney Opera House, or the Taeguk patterns from the Korean national flag which were repeated on the medals at Seoul in 1988. Some have experimented with materials, starting with Albertville in 1992, where all the medals were created (and handcrafted by 35 people) in glass by Lalique. At Lillehammer in 1994, designer Ingjerd Hanevold made the bold move of opting for granite. “I tried to create something that reflects what Norwegians like and appreciate, i.e. nature. There is plenty of granite in our country, and it is beautiful in its simplicity,” she said. Most recently, in 2008, the Beijing medals became the first to incorporate jade, inspired by “bi”, the ancient jade piece inscribed with a dragon pattern, ➤ OLY061_P0050EDeng_2 04/03/2011 09:56 Page 54 OLYMPIC MEDALS which, when combined with gold, symbolises nobility, proved as proud of their medal designs as any other “We wanted to give the athletes something virtue and the Chinese values of ethics and honour. Olympic element. Some are more open about this different, something new. They are more like Italian The natural world has also featured (the orca and than others: “We adopted advanced technologies and jewels. Athletes win medals all the time. We like the the raven were used in the Olympic medal designs enhanced management during the production,” Luo way the athletes look through the medals.” for Vancouver 2010), as have man’s technical Younghui, a senior designer at the Shanghai Mint said And will there be something for champions to achievements (the obverse of the Paris 1900 medal of the jade-backed medals designed for the 2008 look through in London in 2012? Remarkably little includes depictions of monuments from the Universal Games in Beijing, which, at 70mm by 6mm, were also has been disclosed, other than that 4,700 medals are Exhibition). A few designs even hark to the realms of somewhat larger than previous medals. to be produced by the Royal Mint and a shortlist of myth and legend, from dragon slaying (St George, Over the years there have been several British artists who might design the medals is being patron saint of England, graced the reverse of the competitions to design medals – Australian sculptor drawn up.

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