A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture.
67-469: Paul Vincent Costello (December 27, 1894 – April 17, 1986) was an American triple Olympic gold medal winner in rowing . He was the first rower to win a gold medal in the same event, double sculls , at three consecutive Olympics. He also won numerous national titles in both the single and double scull in the 1920s. Costello won the double sculls race with his cousin John B. Kelly Sr. , also known as Jack Kelly at
134-462: 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
201-524: 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,
268-411: 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
335-575: 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
402-444: 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
469-524: A significant military or naval victory or accomplishment. In the United States, Congress would enact a resolution asking the President to reward those responsible. The commanding officer would receive a gold medal and his officers would get silver medals . Medals have historically been given as prizes in various types of competitive activities, especially athletics. Traditionally, medals are made of
536-465: A slight modification) remained on the obverse with a custom design by the host city on the reverse. Noting that Cassioli's design showed a Roman amphitheater for what originally were Greek games, a new obverse design was commissioned for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens . For the 2008 Beijing Olympics medals had a diameter of 70mm and were 6mm thick, with the front displaying a winged figure of victory and
603-540: A sporting discipline receive a gold medal in recognition of their achievement. At the Ancient Olympic Games , only one winner per event received an award, which was a kotinos , an olive wreath made of wild olive leaves from a sacred tree near the temple of Zeus at Olympia. Aristophanes in Plutus makes a remark why victorious athletes are crowned with wreaths made of wild olive instead of gold. Herodotus describes
670-537: A story that explains why there were only a few Greek men at the Battle of Thermopylae since "all other men were participating in the Olympic Games" and that the prize for the winner was "an olive-wreath". When Tigranes , an Armenian general, learned this, he uttered to his leader: "Good heavens! What kind of men are these against whom you have brought us to fight? Men who do not compete for possessions, but for honour". At
737-481: 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
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#1732855056901804-666: Is some variety, such as International barbershop music contests where bronze medals are awarded for third, fourth, and fifth place. 1900 Summer Olympics The 1900 Summer Olympics (French: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1900 ), today officially known as the Games of the II Olympiad ( Jeux de la II olympiade ) and also known as Paris 1900 , were an international multi-sport event that took place in Paris, France, from 14 May to 28 October 1900. No opening or closing ceremonies were held. At
871-459: The 1896 Summer Olympics , winners received a silver medal and the second-place finisher received a bronze medal . In 1900 , most winners received cups or trophies instead of medals. The next three Olympics ( 1904 , 1908 , 1912 ) awarded the winners solid gold medals, but the medals themselves were smaller. The use of gold rapidly declined with the onset of the First World War and also with
938-544: 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
1005-494: 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
1072-564: 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
1139-563: The 1920 Olympics in Antwerp , Belgium, and the 1924 Olympics in Paris , France. Costello repeated his winning ways at the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam , Netherlands, with new partner Charles McIlvaine . Historically, Costello has been overshadowed somewhat by Kelly who was also a triple Olympic gold medalist, having won both the single and double scull at the 1920 games, along with the double sculls at
1206-583: 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
1273-674: The Olympic Games , the Lorentz Medal , the United States Congressional Gold Medal and the Nobel Prize medal. Nobel Prize medals consist of 18 karat green gold plated with 24 karat gold. Before 1980, they were struck in 23 karat gold. Before the establishment of standard military awards , e.g., the Medal of Honor , it was common practice to have a medal specially created to provide national recognition for
1340-606: 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
1407-600: 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
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#17328550569011474-421: 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
1541-479: 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
1608-484: 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
1675-453: 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
1742-471: The 1924 games. Kelly gained additional fame as the father of both Grace Kelly , actress and Princess of Monaco , and John B. Kelly Jr. , an accomplished oarsman in his own right. Costello and Kelly both rowed for the Vesper Boat Club of Philadelphia. This article about a rowing Olympic medalist of the United States is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Gold medal Since
1809-507: The 19th century, with the National Association of Amateur Athletes in the United States awarding such medals as early as 1884. This standard was adopted for Olympic competition at the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis . At the 1896 event , silver was awarded to winners and bronze to runners-up, while in 1900 other prizes were given, not medals. At the modern Olympic Games , winners of
1876-595: 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
1943-409: 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
2010-439: 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
2077-459: 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
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2144-429: 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
2211-457: 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
2278-404: The Olympic host. From 1928 through 1968 the design was always the same: the obverse showed a generic design by Florentine artist Giuseppe Cassioli of Greek goddess Nike with Rome's Colosseum in the background and text naming the host city; the reverse showed another generic design of Nike saluting an Olympic champion. From the 1972 Summer Olympics through 2000 , Cassioli's design (or
2345-521: 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
2412-493: 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
2479-460: 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
2546-506: 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
2613-735: 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
2680-599: 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
2747-640: The back showed a Beijing Olympics symbol surrounded by an inset jade circle. Winter Olympics medals have been of more varied design. The silver and bronze medals have always borne the same designs. The award of a gold medal, often coupled with the award of silver and bronze medals to the next place finishers, has been adopted in other sports competitions (such as the Mediterranean Games ), and in other competitive fields, such as music and writing, as well as some competitive games. Typically bronze medals are awarded only to third place, but in some contests there
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2814-399: 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,
2881-532: The eighteenth century, gold medals have been awarded in the arts, for example, by the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts , usually as a symbol of an award to give an outstanding student some financial freedom. Others offer only the prestige of the award. Many organizations now award gold medals either annually or extraordinarily, including various academic societies. While some gold medals are solid gold, others are gold-plated or silver-gilt , like those of
2948-408: 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
3015-440: 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
3082-630: The following metals: Occasionally, Platinum medals can be awarded. These metals designate the first three Ages of Man in Greek mythology : the Golden Age , when men lived among the gods, the Silver Age , where youth lasted a hundred years, and the Bronze Age , the era of heroes. The custom of awarding the sequence of gold, silver , and bronze medals for the first three highest achievers dates from at least
3149-554: 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
3216-449: 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
3283-458: 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
3350-573: 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
3417-529: 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
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#17328550569013484-521: 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
3551-505: 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
3618-511: The onset of the Second World War . The last series of Olympic medals to be made of solid gold were awarded at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm , Sweden . Olympic gold medals are required to be made from at least 92.5% silver , and must contain a minimum of 6 grams of gold. All Olympic medals must be at least 70mm in diameter and 3mm thick. Minting the medals is the responsibility of
3685-488: 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
3752-412: 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
3819-590: 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
3886-495: 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
3953-411: 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
4020-431: 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
4087-423: 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
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#17328550569014154-686: 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,
4221-437: 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
4288-539: 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
4355-458: 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
4422-462: 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
4489-513: 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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