Updated August 07, 2024 at 11:52 AM ET
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With the Summer Olympics underway in Paris, history is being made as teams end medal droughts and crush expectations.
France’s Léon Marchand clinched the first-ever double swimming gold medal, placing first in both men’s 200m butterfly and breaststroke. Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade won gold in women’s gymnastics floor, the first time a country other than the US has won gold since 2012. And Julien Alfred took home St. Lucia’s first-ever gold medal in the women’s 100-meter, becoming the eighth fastest woman in the world.
While the Olympics have established gold, silver and bronze medals as the standard ranking for the top three winners, it hasn’t always been that way.
Nearly 2,800 years ago, ancient Greek Olympic champions were crowned with wreaths. Then, in the early modern games starting in 1896, champions went home with clocks, cups, trophies and even paintings.
Morning Edition spoke with historians to trace the history of Olympic prizes.
How Ancient Olympic champions were crowned
The first Olympics - the Panhellenic Games - were held in cities around Greece starting in 776 BC. Aside from the tough sport competition, including events like wrestling, footraces, and discus, the Games were an opportunity for congregation and religious celebration.
“People from cities all over the ancient Greek world would come to participate,” Brigitte Keslinke, a researcher at the Penn Museum told NPR’s Morning Edition. “You would want to participate in these games, in honor of the Greek gods, but also because of the fame and glory”.
Keslinke says instead of medals, victors would win wreaths to wear as crowns. “This is a part of the religious or ritual aspect of these activities too”, Keslinke said.
The material of the crown would change depending on the host city, and honor the god the city owed patronage to. “At the city of Delphi, where the games were held in honor of Apollo, it was made of laurel leaves,” she said. “At Olympia, the wreaths were made of olive leaves because the olive tree was sacred to Zeus.”
The first medals didn’t include third place
The “Modern Games” — the international Olympic competition as we know it today — started in 1896. In the first games in Athens, first-place winners won silver medals, second place got a copper medal and there was no prize for third place.
Marisa Wigglesworth, CEO of the United States Olympic and Paralympic Museum spoke with Morning Edition about the early modern games. “In subsequent years, as quickly as the 1900 Paris Games, some of the prizes moved away from medals, winners were given trophies or works of art, depending on the sport,” she said.
The tradition of awarding gold, silver and bronze medals for first, second and third place respectively was then established permanently in 1904, when the games were held in St. Louis, Wigglesworth said.
Medals have evolved during 21st Century Games
Though the medal tradition has remained unchanged for the past 120 years, their designs provide an outlet for artistic expression that can speak to where the games are being held.
“There is a wonderful tradition of giving the host city a lot of liberty and opportunity to design a medal that very much speaks to the city’s culture,” Wigglesworth said.
The 2020 Tokyo medals contained recycled materials from electronic devices donated by the Japanese public.
This year in Paris, each medal contains an original piece of the Eiffel tower in the center.
Aside from artistry, medals are evolving to become more inclusive, too. In the 2016 Rio Games, Paralympic medals contained rattle-like components, with different frequencies to differentiate first, second and third place. Paralympic medals also often feature braille detailing.
Design details for the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympic medals are still under wraps. Images of their design headquarters have been released, which point to increased sustainability awareness in the 2026 games.
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