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Beijing medals
On the front side of the medals, a design depicts the Greek roots of the Games as prescribed by the IOC. Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, appears as she has since 1928. Also depicted is the Panathinaiko Stadium, the main stadium of the 1896 Athens Games.
The reverse side of the medals features an inlaid ring of jade, which signifies honor and virtue in Chinese culture. The emblem of the Beijing Games is engraved in a metal centerpiece.
Each medal is about 2.75 inches (70 mm) in diameter, about a quarter inch (6 mm) in thickness, and weighs about five ounces.
Medal Rules
Concrete regulations for the development of medals were first established in 1978. According to the Olympic Charter, the prize medals must be at least 60 millimeters in diameter and three millimeters thick. The gold and silver medals must be made of 92.5 percent pure silver, and the gold medal must be gilded with at least six grams of gold. The medals must bear the name of the sport concerned, attached in a removable fashion to a chain or ribbon, which may be hung around the neck of a competitor.
No Medals
The 1900 Paris Games remains the only Olympics where no medals were awarded. Instead, winners were given valuable pieces of art.
Proving your medal mettle
The winning design for the 2008 Beijing Games, was chosen from 265 proposals. It was inspired by "bi" - an ancient Chinese jade piece inscribed with a dragon pattern. The medals are made of gold and jade.
Split medal
Two Japanese men were unsatisfied with tie breaking procedures and had their medals fused together so it was half silver and half bronze (Pole Vault 1936).
Golden (gymnastics) pain
Shun Fujimoto landed on a broken leg to help win men's gymnastics team title in 1976. Kerri Strug landed her vault but tore a ligament en route to the team gold in 1996.
Wrong-hand gold
Karoly Takacs of Hungary, winner of the men's rapid fire pistol competition, had been a good right-handed marksman until a 1938 military accident cost him that hand. He learned to shoot with his left hand, and within a year qualified for the World Championships en route to his 1948 gold medal.
Gold Plus Gift
Jefferson Perez won 20km race walk in 1996, first Olympic medalist from Ecuador, was given lifetime supply of yogurt.
First siblings to win medals
John and Summer Paine (gold & silver, military revolver in 1896).
Gold Plus Gift
Jefferson Perez won 20km race walk in 1996, first Olympic medalist from Ecuador, was given lifetime supply of yogurt.
Uncontested Gold
In 1908 Lieutenant Wyndham Halswelle ran around the track alone and became the only track and field athlete ever to win an Olympic gold medal unchallenged.
Golden auction
Before the Athens Games, Otylia Jedrzejczak
read a novel by Eric Emmanuel Schmitt called Oscar and the Lady in
Pink, about a boy who died from leukemia. The story inspired her so
much that she announced that if she won a gold medal she would auction
it off to raise money for children with leukemia. Jedrzejczak sold the
medal for $80,000 and donated the sum to a children's cancer hospital
in Poland.
Mystery golden child
In 1900 a small French boy - whose name no one bothered to find out - filled in for the regular Dutch coxswain and led the Dutch boat to victory. The boy, whose name remains unknown, was under 10 years of age and possibly as young as seven. He is considered the youngest Olympic competitor and youngest gold medalist.
