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77-483: This article includes lists of all Olympic medalists since 1896, organized by each Olympic sport or discipline, and also by Olympiad. Sports that will appear in the 2028 Summer Olympics are listed below, except for squash and flag football , making their first appearance in 2028. Sports that will appear in the 2026 Winter Olympics are listed below, except for Ski mountaineering are making their first appearance in 2026. Olympic medal An Olympic medal

154-595: A laurel branch and a copper or bronze medal . The 1900 Summer Olympics is unique in being the only Olympic Games to feature rectangular medals, which were designed by Frédérique Vernon . Gilt silver medals were awarded for 1st place in shooting, lifesaving, automobile racing and gymnastics. Second place silver medals were awarded in shooting, rowing, yachting, tennis, gymnastics, sabre, fencing, equestrian and athletics. Third place bronze medals were awarded in gymnastics, firefighting and shooting. In many sports, however, medals were not awarded. With most of

231-468: A bronze won by Guillermo Hayden Wright, Marquez de Villavieja and three brothers: Eustaquio de Escandón y Barron, Pablo de Escandón y Barron and Manuel de Escandón y Barron. Competitions were held on the River Seine . The coxed fours event descended into disarray after the officials changed the qualifying criteria for the final several times, culminating in two finals: the first final was held without

308-535: A competition that involved elements from track and field and weightlifting as well as gymnastic disciplines. Eight separate tournaments were held in 1900 as part of the 1900 World's Fair . Only the Grand Prix Internationale de l'Exposition is counted as an official medal event. Entries were from clubs rather than countries, and the winning Foxhunters club comprised English, Irish and American players. Mexico won its first medal in this sport,

385-902: A greater variety of design applications for the Winter Games; unlike with the Summer Games, the IOC never mandated one particular design. The medal at the inaugural 1924 Winter Olympics in Chamonix , France did not even feature the Olympic rings . Nike was featured on the medals of the 1932 and 1936 Games but has only appeared on one medal design since then. One regular motif is the use of the snowflake, while laurel leaves and crowns appear on several designs. The Olympic motto Citius, Altius, Fortius features on four Winter Games medals but does not appear on any Summer Games medal. For three events in

462-411: A minute to win the underwater swimming event. A high-quality men's tournament saw three past or future Wimbledon champions reach the semi-finals. Laurence Doherty reached the final when older brother Reggie stepped aside and let his sibling advance to the final. The two refused to play each other in what they considered a minor tournament. On the 11th of July a landmark was reached in the history of

539-588: A mystery; some could have been under ten years old. Three teams competed in the Rugby tournament. A French representative team defeated a team from the German city of Frankfurt and Moseley Wanderers from England. The Moseley team had played a full game of rugby in England the day before they made the journey to Paris. They arrived in the morning, played the match in the afternoon and were back in their home country by

616-523: A new style by designer Elena Votsi depicting the Panathenaic Stadium was introduced at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens . This new obverse design remains in use. The German Olympic Committee, Nationales Olympisches Komitee für Deutschland , was the first Summer Games organisers to elect to change the reverse of the medal. The 1972 design was created by Gerhard Marcks , an artist from

693-495: A row, hosts of the Winter Games included different materials in the medals: glass (1992), sparagmite (1994), and lacquer (1998). It was not until the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing , China that a Summer Olympic host chose to use something different, in this case, jade . While every Summer Olympic medal except for the 1900 Games has been circular, the shapes of the Winter Games have been considerably more varied. The designs for

770-444: A scorecard in his own writing. The croquet tournament was notable as it marked the first appearance of women at Olympic level. Madame Desprès , Madame Filleul-Brohy and Mademoiselle Ohier were eliminated in the first round of competition. All players were French. A single paying spectator attended the tournament, an elderly English gentleman who travelled from Nice for the early stages. An unofficial two-ball handicap competition

847-462: A separate ceremony on the evening of or the evening after competition. At the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City , the "medals plaza" was popularized as a way for the public to see presentations that would have otherwise taken place at far-flung, low-capacity or high-altitude venues and to have an evening program that often included musical performances. 1900 Summer Olympics At

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924-632: A space was left for the name of the Olympic host and the Games numeral. The reverse features a crowd of people carrying a triumphant athlete. His winning design was first presented at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam . The medals for the 1960 Games in Rome inverted the design, with the obverse featuring the crowd and the reverse featuring Nike. The competition saw this design used for 40 years until

1001-435: Is a debate as to whether the live pigeon shooting event was a full Olympic event, Belgian Leon Lunden shot twenty-one birds on his way to the championship. Up to thirty unofficial shooting events were also held, most involving professional marksmen. Research has shown that one of the medal events in the IOC database (25m rapid fire pistol, also called military pistol cat. 6) was contested by professionals. The muddied waters of

1078-455: Is a tie for any of the top three places all competitors are entitled to receive the appropriate medal according to IOC rules. Some combat sports (such as boxing , judo , taekwondo and wrestling ) award two bronze medals per competition, resulting in, overall, more bronze medals being awarded than the other colours. Medals are not the only awards given to competitors; every athlete placed first to eighth receives an Olympic diploma . Also, at

1155-569: Is awarded to successful competitors at one of the Olympic Games . There are three classes of medal to be won: gold , silver , and bronze , awarded to first, second, and third place, respectively. The granting of awards is laid out in detail in the Olympic protocols. Medal designs have varied considerably since the Games in 1896, particularly in the size of the medals for the Summer Olympic Games . The design selected for

1232-496: The 1900 Exposition Universelle (World's Fair). In total, 1,226 competitors took part in 19 different sports. This number relies on certain assumptions about which events were and were not "Olympic". Many athletes, some of whom had won events, were unaware they had competed in the Olympic Games . Women took part in the games for the first time, with sailor Hélène de Pourtalès , born Helen Barbey in New York City, becoming

1309-510: The 1900 World's Fair . An enormous number of events was held, though many fall short of the standards later required for Olympic championship status. After the several initial editions of the Olympic Games, decisions as to which Olympic events were termed "official" and which had "unofficial" or "demonstration" status were usually left to the Olympic organizing committees and/or the IOC . In

1386-577: The 1900 World's Fair : Scholastic and military events were also held across a range of sports. Four planned competitions were not organized due to a lack of participants: balle au tamis  [ fr ] , field hockey , jeu de paume and lacrosse . According to the International Olympic Committee, 26 nations sent competitors to this edition. The concept of "national teams" chosen by National Olympic Committees did not exist at this point in time. When counting

1463-710: The 1928 Games remained until its replacement at the 2004 Games in Athens , where the use of the Roman Colosseum was replaced by the Greek Panathenaic Stadium , appropriate to represent Olympic values. The medals of the Winter Olympic Games never had a common design, but regularly feature snowflakes and the event where the medal has been won. In addition to generally supporting their Olympic athletes, some countries provide sums of money and gifts to medal winners, depending on

1540-607: The 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich became the first Games with a different design for the reverse side of the medal. Cassioli's design continued to inspire the obverse of the medal for many more years, though recreated each time, with the Olympic host and numeral updated. The obverse remained true to the Trionfo design until the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona , Spain, where the IOC allowed an updated version to be created. For

1617-550: The Bauhaus , and features mythological twins Castor and Pollux . Since then the Organising Committee of the host city has been given the freedom of the design of the reverse, with the IOC giving final approval. The IOC has the final decision on the specifications of each design for all Olympic medals, including the Summer Games, Winter Games , Summer Paralympic Games and Winter Paralympic Games . There has been

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1694-588: The Greek goddess of victory, on the obverse and the Acropolis on the reverse. They were made by the Paris Mint , which also made the medals for the 1900 Olympic Games, hosted by Paris. This started the tradition of giving the responsibility of minting the medals to the host city. For the next few Olympiads, the host city also chose the medal design. Until 1912 the gold medals were made of solid gold. In 1923

1771-545: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) launched a competition for sculptors to design the medals for the Summer Olympic Games . Giuseppe Cassioli 's Trionfo design was chosen as the winner in 1928. The obverse brought back Nike but this time as the main focus, holding a winner's crown and palm with a depiction of the Colosseum in the background. In the top right section of the medal,

1848-652: The Olympic Congress of 1894, which convened in the Sorbonne building , Pierre de Coubertin proposed that the Olympic Games should take place in Paris in 1900. However, the delegates to the conference were unwilling to wait six years and lobbied to hold the first games in 1896. A decision was made to hold the first Olympic Games in 1896 in Athens and have Paris host the second Games. The Games were held as part of

1925-620: The Seine hosted the swimming events in 1900. Run with the current, the races produced very fast times by the standards of the day. John Arthur Jarvis of Great Britain, Frederick Lane of Australia and the German Ernst Hoppenberg each won two titles. Lane received a 50-pound bronze statue of a horse as a prize. A couple of unusual events were held. The obstacle race required both swimming underneath and climbing over rows of boats while Charles de Venville stayed submerged for over

2002-480: The Solar System around the logo, marking the Games coinciding with Chinese New Year festivities Since the beginning of the modern Olympics the athletes and their support staffs, event officials, and certain volunteers involved in planning and managing the games have received commemorative medals and diplomas. Like the winners' medals, these are changed for each Olympic Festival, with different ones issued for

2079-616: The Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques ("Union of the French Societies for Athletic Sports" or USFSA) announced that it would have the sole right to any organized sport held during the World's Fair. It was an empty threat, but Viscount Charles de La Rochefoucauld, the nominated head of the organizing committee, stepped down rather than be embroiled in the political battle. The Baron de Coubertin, also secretary-general of

2156-484: The old city wall , the course was poorly marked out and runners often got lost and had to double back on themselves before continuing. On some parts of the course, runners had to contend with distractions from cars, bicycles, pedestrians and animals. Arthur Newton of the United States finished fifth but stated he had not been passed by any other runner during the race. Another American, Richard Grant , claimed he

2233-479: The shooting event . The host nation of France fielded 72% of all athletes (720 of the 997) and won the most gold, silver and bronze medal placings. U.S. athletes won the second-most in each while fielding the fifth-most participants, 75. British athletes won the third-most in each while fielding the second most participants, 102. The 1900 Games were held as part of the 1900 Exposition Universelle . The Baron de Coubertin believed this would help public awareness of

2310-436: The épée for amateurs and masters, was awarded a prize of 3,000  F (equivalent to € 12,867 in 2022 ). Some events were contested for the only time in the history of the Games, including angling , motor racing , ballooning , cricket , croquet , Basque pelota , 200m swimming obstacle race and underwater swimming . This was also the only Olympic Games in history to use live animals (pigeons) as targets during

2387-453: The 1900 Summer Olympics affirms a total of 95 medal events. Weightlifting and wrestling were dropped since the 1896 Summer Olympics , while 12 new sports were added. Among the sports below, only croquet was not an international competition, being contested by French players only. The number of events in each discipline is noted in parentheses. 14 venues were used at the 1900 Summer Olympics to host 20 sports. The standard of competition at

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2464-535: The 1960 Summer Olympics, competitors in the Stadio Olimpico received their medals immediately after each event for the first time; competitors at other venues came to the Stadio Olimpico the next day to receive their medals. Later Games have had a victory podium at each competition venue. The 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome , Italy were the first in which the medals were placed around the neck of

2541-614: The Albion Cricket Club and the Standard Athletic Club, two Paris clubs consisting almost exclusively of British expatriates, played a touring team from the southwest of England. The Devon and Somerset Wanderers were no more than a team of competent club cricketers (made up from Blundells School old boys and members of Castle Cary Cricket Club), and only Montagu Toller and Alfred Bowerman were deemed good enough to play at county level for Somerset. The game

2618-655: The Colosseum should remain. The Greek press criticised the design for ignorance of the birthplace of the Olympic Games, pointing out that the long-standing feature on the front of medals was mistakenly depicting the Roman Colosseum rather than the Greek Parthenon . The Sydney Organising Committee decided to continue with the design as it was, noting that there was insufficient time to complete another version and that it would be too costly. After 76 years

2695-409: The Games was variable. Despite a poor-quality track, a strong contingent of top-class American collegiate athletes ensured the track and field competitions were of the highest quality. The tennis gold medalists were all former Wimbledon champions; swimming and fencing events were of a good standard; and even polo, a minority sport for the social elite, was well represented by some of the best players in

2772-439: The IOC has never determined which events were Olympic and which were not. All events satisfying all four of the retrospective selection criteria (restricted to amateurs, international participation, open to all competitors and without handicapping) are now regarded by historians as Olympic events, except for ballooning, while croquet, motorboating and boules satisfied three of these criteria (as only French athletes competed). Of

2849-459: The IOC, as recommended by Olympic historian Bill Mallon . To support the recognition of a total of 95 medal events per Mallon's suggestion, one more race in each of 2 other classes (0.5-1t and 3-10t) has been recognized by the IOC. Thus, for five of the eight events, two gold, two silver and two bronze medals were retrospectively awarded. Races were held at both Meulan and Le Havre and medals shared among five nations. France and Great Britain were

2926-429: The Olympic Games with three jumping events being held, plus two other events. The Italian rider Gian Giorgio Trissino won a gold and a silver. He narrowly missed making Olympic history by winning two medals in the same event. Competing with two different horses in the high jump, he jointly won the gold medal and finished in 4th place on his second horse. Nineteen nations were represented in the fencing competition, which

3003-461: The Olympic Games. Charlotte Cooper , already three times Wimbledon champion, took the singles championship to become the first individual female Olympic champion, also winning the mixed doubles event. A combined Sweden/Denmark team, made up of three competitors from each country, defeated the French team to win the title. One of the members of the French team was a Colombian citizen. They were left as

3080-536: The Olympics and submitted elaborate plans to rebuild the ancient site of Olympia , complete with statues, temples, stadia, and gymnasia. The director of the Exposition Universelle, Alfred Picard, thought holding an ancient sport event at the Exposition Universelle was an "absurd anachronism". After thanking de Coubertin for his plans, Picard filed them away and nothing more came of it. A committee

3157-497: The Olympics were the London amateurs of Upton Park F.C. A crowd of around 500 spectators saw them defeat their French rivals. Margaret Ives Abbott , a student of art from Chicago, played in and won a nine-hole golf tournament on an October Tuesday in Paris. She died in 1955 without being aware that the tournament was part of the Olympic Games and she had become America's first ever female Olympic champion. 135 gymnasts took part in

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3234-468: The Olympics. While there is an Official Report of these Games, complete records of results do not exist. De Coubertin commented later to friends, "It's a miracle that the Olympic Movement survived that celebration". Before July 2021, the IOC had never decided which events were "Olympic". In fact, Pierre de Coubertin had ceded that entire determination to the organizers. The IOC webpage for

3311-512: The U.S. athletics team. Orton ran for the University of Pennsylvania and was therefore assumed to be American, but he always considered himself a Canadian. Michel Théato , the winner of the marathon, competed for the French athletics team. He was a Luxembourger; however, this was only discovered decades later. Francisco Henríquez de Zubiría of Colombia was a silver medal-winner on the French tug of war team. Victor Lindberg of New Zealand

3388-755: The USFSA, was urged to withdraw from active involvement in running the Games and did so, only to comment later, "I surrendered—and was incorrect in doing so." The IOC ceded control of the Games to a new committee to oversee every sporting activity connected to the 1900 Exposition Universelle. Alfred Picard appointed Daniel Mérillon , the head of the French Shooting Association, as president of this organization in February 1899. Mérillon published an entirely different schedule of events, which resulted in many of those who had made plans to compete with

3465-605: The University of Pennsylvania were among the stars of the Games. Alvin Kraenzlein won 4 individual gold medals, a feat that has never repeated, while Walter Tewksbury took five medals including two golds. The hurdles in the 400 m hurdle race were 30-foot (9.1 m)-long telegraph poles arranged on the track and the race, uniquely in Olympic competition, had a water jump on the final straight. Adolphe Klingelhoeffer, who had Brazilian citizenship in 1900, competed for France in three events. United States dominance in sprinting

3542-749: The Winter Games medals are also generally larger, thicker, and heavier than those for the Summer Games. Details about the medals from each of the Summer Olympic Games: (The Rome games were the first to place the medal around the athletes neck) Details about the medals from each of the Winter Olympic Games: Reverse: Hangul messages "symbolising the effort of athletes from around the world" Edge: words "Olympic Winter Games Pyeongchang 2018" in Korean (stylized) and English Reverse: A stylized depiction of

3619-524: The athletes. The medals hung from a chain of laurel leaves, while they are now hung from a coloured ribbon. When Athens hosted the 2004 Summer Olympics the competitors on the podium also received an olive wreath crown. In the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro , each medalist received a wooden statuette of the Olympic logo. It is customary for many medals at the Winter Olympics to be presented in

3696-483: The classes and number of medals won. In the 2024 Paris Games , 33 countries confirmed that they would award prizes to medallists, with 15 awarding cash prizes over $ 100,000. The olive wreath was the prize for the winner at the Ancient Olympic Games . It was an olive branch, off the wild-olive tree that grew at Olympia , intertwined to form a circle or a horse-shoe. According to Pausanias , it

3773-399: The early Olympic Games, however, no decision as to the official status of any event was made at the time of the Games. While a document from 1912 exists, listing results from the 1900 Games, and formed the original basis of the results of the Paris games in the IOC database, the reliability and authenticity of this paper has been questioned by Olympic historians. Further complicating matters,

3850-408: The final, they limited the number of shots on goal to avoid humiliating their opponents. One of its team members, Victor Lindberg , was from New Zealand, while Thomas William Burgess of the bronze medal-winning Libellule de Paris team represented Great Britain in the swimming events. The 1900 Games were not governed by a specific Olympic organizing committee, but were instead held as an appendage to

3927-440: The first female Olympic champion. The decision to hold competitions on a Sunday brought protests from many American athletes, who traveled as representatives of their colleges and were expected to withdraw rather than compete on their religious day of rest. Most of the winners in 1900 did not receive medals but were given cups or trophies. Professionals competed in fencing, as was tradition, and Albert Robert Ayat (France), who won

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4004-565: The game was played at this, the sport's only appearance at full Olympic level. Two pairs entered and the Spanish partnerships of Amezola and Villota became their nations' first Olympic champions. The mano form of the game and a chistera tournament for professional players were contested unofficially. After the withdrawal of teams from the Netherlands and Belgium, only two teams played in the cricket tournament. A team made up of players from

4081-449: The game. Other sports were noticeably weak in both quality and depth. Only athletics, swimming and fencing had competitors from more than ten nations. The history of the archery competition at the 1900 Olympics is one of confusion. The IOC currently lists six events with Olympic status, but a case has been made that as many as eight other events equally deserve to be considered part of official Olympic history. About 150 archers competed in

4158-541: The listed prizes being cups and other trophies. The custom of the sequence of gold , silver , and bronze for the first three places in all events dates from the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis, Missouri in the United States . The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has retroactively assigned gold, silver and bronze medals to the three best-placed athletes in each event of the 1896 and 1900 Games. If there

4235-640: The main host stadium, the names of all medal winners are written onto a wall. Finally, as noted below, all athletes receive a participation medal and diploma. The IOC dictates the physical properties of the medals and has the final decision about the finished design. Specifications for the medals are developed along with the National Olympic Committee (NOC) hosting the Games, though the IOC has brought in some set rules: The first Olympic medals in 1896 were designed by French sculptor Jules-Clément Chaplain and depicted Zeus holding Nike ,

4312-458: The most successful of the countries involved. A number of people named as members of medal-winning crews by the IOC have been proved not to have competed; others have their participation seriously questioned by historical research. Switzerland's Konrad Stäheli was the outstanding marksman of the Games, taking a trio of titles and leading his country to the top of the shooting medal table. The medals were shared between six different nations. There

4389-613: The next few events , they mandated the use of the Nike motif but allowed other aspects to change. The trend ended after 2000, due to the negative reaction to the medal design for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney . The designer of the 2000 medal ( Wojciech Pietranik ) had originally featured the Sydney Opera House on the obverse instead of the traditional Roman Colosseum but the International Olympic Committee decided that

4466-583: The next morning. The proposed game between the British and German sides was cancelled, and both are credited as silver medalists. The Franco-Haitian centre Constantin Henriquez become the first black gold medalist. The 1900 sailing regatta differs from every other Olympic regatta in a number of ways. In most classes, there were two distinct "finals", boats were assigned time handicaps according to their weight within each class and cash prizes were handed out to

4543-529: The number of participating countries in the early Olympic Games, the IOC does not take into account otherwise unrepresented countries whose citizens competed for other countries. Modern research shows that at the 1900 Olympics, the athletes of at least four otherwise unrepresented countries competed for other countries in both individual and team sports. George Orton , gold medalist in 2500 metres steeplechase event and bronze medalist in 400 metres hurdles event, and Ronald J. MacDonald , both of Canada, competed for

4620-529: The official report of the sporting events of the 1900 Exposition Universelle. The press reported competitions variously as "International Championships", "International Games", "Paris Championships", "World Championships" and "Grand Prix of the Paris Exposition". These poorly organized games, along with those of 1904, were termed decades later by several historians "The Farcical Games." Years later, many competitors were unaware that they had competed in

4697-509: The only participating teams; the United States had entered but were forced to scratch as three of their team were involved in the final of the hammer. Edgar Aabye was a journalist covering the Games for the Danish newspaper Politiken and was asked to join the team when another puller was taken ill. Osborne Swimming Club, representing Great Britain, were unchallenged in the tournament, scoring 29 goals and conceding only 3 in their 3 matches. In

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4774-493: The original program withdrawing and refusing to deal with the new committee. Between May and October 1900, the new organizing committee held many sporting activities alongside the Paris Exposition. The term "Olympic" rarely used in sporting events. Indeed, the term "Olympic Games" was replaced by " Concours internationaux d'exercices physiques et de sport " ("International contests of physical exercises and of sport" in English) in

4851-412: The original qualifiers, who boycotted the race to protest the decision to run six boats on a course laid out for four boats. Following this, officials decided to run another final for the boycotting crews. Both events are considered official Olympic competitions. In a number of events, crews saw the advantage of having ultra-lightweight coxswains and recruited local boys for race days. Most of these remain

4928-661: The six events that later had official status conferred. However, as many as 5,000 were involved in archery competition in conjunction with the 1900 World's Fair . Belgian Hubert Van Innis took two gold medals and one silver and would add to his tally twenty years later in Antwerp . The track and field events were held at the home of the Racing Club de France at the Croix-Catelan stadium in Bois de Boulogne . No track

5005-502: The summer and winter games. The presentation of the medals and awards varied significantly until the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles brought in what has now become standard. Before 1932 all the medals were awarded at the closing ceremony, with the athletes wearing evening dress for the first few Games. Originally the presenting dignitary was stationary while the athletes filed past to receive their medals. The victory podium

5082-500: The three events that satisfied three criteria, only croquet has been accorded Olympic status. In this regard, one of the ten croquet players, Marcel Haëntjens , had been believed to be Belgian, and the croquet events were thus considered as international. Despite the Flemish name, it was discovered in recent times that Haëntjens was French. Like all the Olympic events widely regarded as official, there were other events conducted during

5159-411: The winner of each race. The IOC initially recognized the winner of the first race in each class as Olympic champion except in the case of the 10-20 ton class, which was decided on aggregate time over three races. However currently the participants of both first and second races in 3 classes (0-0.5t, 1-2t and 2-3t) are present in the as medalists, so the second races in these 3 classes were recognized by

5236-431: Was also held. This was also the only Olympiad where croquet was part of the official programme, though there was the variant called roque at the 1904 Summer Olympics . The home nation won six of the nine medals available, including one that was initially awarded to Great Britain until this was reversed in 2024. A number of unofficial events were held for both amateurs and professionals. Equestrian sport made its debut at

5313-423: Was even greater in the field events than the track events, with outstanding performances coming from Ray Ewry and Irving Baxter . Ewry started his Olympic career with a sweep of the three standing jumps, while Baxter finished second to Ewry three times and won both the regular high jump and pole vault . Meyer Prinstein became the first Jewish Olympic gold medalist in the triple jump . The chistera form of

5390-686: Was formed for the organization of the Games, consisting of some of the more able sports administrators of the day, and a provisional program was drawn up. Sports to be included at the games were track and field athletics , swimming , wrestling , gymnastics , fencing , French and British boxing , river and ocean yacht racing , cycling , golf , lifesaving , archery , weightlifting , rowing , diving , and water polo . British and Irish sports associations and several influential American universities and sports clubs announced their desire to compete. Competitors from Russia and Australia also confirmed their intentions to travel to Paris. On 9 November 1898,

5467-437: Was held in a field near the cutlery exhibit at the 1900 World's Fair . French fencers dominated the proceedings but both Cuba and Italy also took titles. The early rounds of the foil competitions were judged on style rather than the actual result of the contest. This meant that some fencers were eliminated without losing a contest while others were defeated and still progressed to the next rounds. The first football champions at

5544-401: Was introduced by Heracles as a prize for the winner of the running race to honour Zeus . When the modern Olympic Games began in 1896 medals started to be given to successful olympian competitors. However, gold medals were not awarded at the inaugural Olympics in 1896 in Athens , Greece. The winners were instead given a silver medal and an olive branch, whilst runners-up received

5621-408: Was introduced upon the personal instruction in 1931 of Henri de Baillet-Latour , who had seen one used at the 1930 British Empire Games . The winner is in the middle at a higher elevation, with the silver medallist to the right and the bronze to the left. At the 1932 Winter Olympics , medals were awarded in the closing ceremony, with athletes for each event in turn mounting the first-ever podium. At

5698-545: Was laid and races took place on an uneven field of grass littered with trees. Additional events were held for professionals and a series of handicap races also took place. These are not considered official Olympic events. In the seven events contested over 400 metres or less, the United States took 13 out of a possible 21 medals. Athletes from Columbia University , Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania all won gold medals. Indeed, two would-be dentists from

5775-462: Was matched in the longer track races by United Kingdom. Only George Orton , who won Canada's first Olympic title in the shorter of the two steeplechases , ruined a perfect record for the British. Orton won his title less than an hour after placing third in the 400-metre hurdles. The most contentious of all the events in these Games began and ended in the Bois de Boulogne. Intended to follow the track of

5852-467: Was played before a small crowd at the Vélodrome de Vincennes . An emphatic second innings bowling performance from Toller captured victory for the visitors as time appeared to be running out for them. If the French had held out for five more minutes the game would have been a draw. Knowledge of the game would have been lost but for the forethought of John Symes , a member of the victorious team, who kept

5929-519: Was run down by a cyclist as he made ground on the leaders. French honour seemed to have been satisfied when Michel Théato crossed the finish line and a military band struck up La Marseillaise . However, modern research has revealed that Théato was born in Luxembourg and maintained Luxembourgian citizenship throughout his life. The Hungarian discus thrower Rudolf Bauer was the only non-American crowned as Olympic Champion. American domination

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