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User:Jnestorius/Medal (sports)

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  • A medal is commonly awarded to the top finishers in competitive events, especially sports events.
  • The standard used in the Olympic Games and emulated in many other competitions is to award gold, silver, and bronze medals for first, second, and third place respectively.
    • ties for first or second ought to pre-empt lower medals, but sometimes not, eg 1912 pole vault 1-22-333
    • Olympic "gold" medals are of gold-plated silver, while silver and bronze medals are solid silver and solid bronze. Lesser contests may use base metals or plastic approximating the colours of precious metals.
    • Olympic medals are awarded at a ceremony
      • Podium with winner on highest middle step; introduced at the 1930 British Empire Games (1970 PhD p.15; podium, flag, anthem, raise right arm; medals not awarded till closing ceremony, ibid. p.29) and copied for the 1932 Olympics (Summer or Winter?)
      • Flags of all medallists are displayed; same order and relative height as the podium
        • What if there is an unexpected tie?
        • When were flags first used in this way?
          • In 1896 flag run up flagpole straight after end of competition (medal not awarded till last day)
          • 1908 1500 m (finish was 1 US – 2 UK – 3 UK) the US flag was above the UK flag on same pole![1]
      • Anthem of winning competitor's nation is played
        • Since when?
      • Other items presented: flowers, certificate, laurel wreath
      • Apparently top 8 athletics finalists (previously top 6 -- matches wall of honour?) are awarded diplomas[2]
      • When nation competes unofficially, as in the 1980 boycott, the Olympic anthem and flag are used.
      • Originally medals were presented in a case; this was modelled on academic medals rather than military medal pinned to the chest. At the 1960 Summer Olympics, this was switched to medals on a ribbon worn around the neck.
      • The obverse of the Olympic medal featured a depiction of the Roman Colosseum; the Athens 2004 Games replaced this with a Greek temple, which was more in keeping with the ancient Olympics as well as satisfying the hosts' national pride.
      • In 1983, Gaston Meyer proposed expanding medals to four (solid gold -- gilt silver -- silver -- bronze) and including top-8 diplomates on podium.[2]
      • Summer Olympics usually have ceremony shortly after final; Winter Olympics usually later in evening all together because of cold. From 2006, winners also presented with flowers (or soft toy in 2018) immediately after event.[3]
      • Football at the 1948 Summer Olympics -- medals straight after final. Podium had only the captains, with rest of team lined up alongside, and flags to the side; 3rd-place team had blazers etc while 1s2 and 2nd still in match kit.[4]
      • particular incidents:
    • In knockout events with two-competitor matches the third place may be decided in various ways
      • Sometimes a third-place playoff
        • Some years the FIFA World Cup gave fourth-place medals
      • Sometimes both losing semi-finalists get bronze medals, as in Olympic boxing (since some year)
      • Sometimes neither semi-final loser gets a prize: e.g. cup football, tennis grand slam (though in the latter case no medals are awarded)
    • About 7% of 2016 medals, mostly bronze, were returned to the Brazilian mint for replacement due to defects including rusting, flaking and black spots.[5]
  • In team events, deciding who is entitled to a medal may be tricky
    • those who play in the final always get one straight away
    • round-robin league
    • Showjumping: if same jumper's results are discarded in both rounds of team competition, he was formerly (until when??) not entitled to a medal.
    • Olympics formerly restricted switching relay athletes between rounds
      • maybe also formerly it was only those who ran/swam/etc in the final who got a medal; no longer the case, e.g. Michael Phelps sat out one final so his teammate would get a medal as well as him (not instead of him)
    • FIFA World Cup
      • formerly only those who played in the final got a medal; England 1966 squad were retrospectively given medals (when? were they all given medals at the same time, or was it those who played in earlier rounds first, and unused players later?)
      • those who played in qualifying rounds got no medal
    • Football league: minimum number of games played
    • Some events give the team a fixed/maximum number of medals to dole out as they
  • Other than gold-silver-bronze 1-2-3:
    • Special Olympics and children's gymkhana, ribbons for 4th-8th place
    • cycling no bronze if fewer than 5 entrants[6]
    • US figure skating fourth-place medals
    • Maths Olympics: gold-silver-bronze for top 10-20-50% (or 1/6-1/3-1/2?) of competitors
    • Knockout events not held in a single time and place, usually only the finalists get medals, not the losing semifinalists (e.g. FA Cup)

Retrospective disqualification usually means shift later up one. Anomalies:

Other anomalies:

Alternatives to medals: Category:Award items

  • rosette for horse in equestrianism. I guess rider gets something else, medal at Olympics certainly

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "The Olympic Games". The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News. 69 (1818). London: Illustrated London News: 803, lower half, picture 4. 18 July 1908. British Online Archives 73655II-19080718 Image 7. unclipped photo is gettyimages 517720278
  2. ^ a b Gaston Meyer, "On the athletics programme for the Olympic Games" Olympic Review No.189 (1983) pp.464-5
  3. ^ Haas, Benjamin (14 February 2018). "Why Pyeongchang winners are receiving plush toys on platters". TheGuardian.com. Retrieved 20 February 2018. Athletes in Pyeongchang do eventually get medals, but at a joint ceremony later in the evening. "The flower ceremony, or in this case the cuddly toy ceremony, is a longstanding tradition," said Mark Adams, director of communications for the International Olympic Committee. "With the outdoor events it's quite obvious," he added, referring to the subzero temperatures at many mountain venues. The practice of staging a small ceremony immediately after winter events started at the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Italy.
  4. ^ Keystone/Getty Images (3 August 2010). "Captain's Glory". Australian Olympic Committee. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
  5. ^ "Annalise Murphy returns defective Olympic medal". RTÉ.ie. 26 May 2017. Retrieved 26 May 2017.
  6. ^ Sophie Unwin receives apology but no medal after third-place tandem finish
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