Olympic Prizes: How did we get to the 3 medals?

Transcript

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Olympic athletes strive to win gold, silver and bronze, but there was a different prize when the Games originated in Greece more than 2,700 years ago.

BRIGITTE KESLINKE: There weren't any medals. The primary prize that a victor would win would actually be a wreath that would be crowned on their head.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Brigitte Keslinke is a researcher at the Penn Museum, and she studies the ancient Olympics.

KESLINKE: You were literally crowned as a victor. Sometimes, we see depictions of ancient athletes being given ribbons instead that they tied on their head, but again, something put on the head in a symbolic gesture of victory, not unlike a medal.

FADEL: And those crowns changed, depending on the Greek god the games were honoring. Games in the name of Zeus had crowns of olive branches. Games in tribute to Apollo would have crowns of laurel.

KESLINKE: Athletes might also be awarded olive oil. This was a very important and valuable resource in the ancient world.

FADEL: In 1896, when the modern Olympic Games began, medals went to the top two competitors in any single event.

INSKEEP: Top two, not top three, and Marisa Wigglesworth, of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum, says first place at the beginning was a silver medal. The runner-up got a copper medal.

MARISA WIGGLESWORTH: At the 1900 Paris Games, some of the prizes had moved away from medals, and the winners were given trophies or works of art. It really varied by the sport or the competition.

FADEL: All of that was standardized at the very next Olympic Games, in St. Louis, Mo.

WIGGLESWORTH: It was in 1904 that the tradition of awarding gold, silver and bronze medals for first, second and third place, respectively, was established.

INSKEEP: That's too bad. It'd be cool if you got awarded a Picasso or something for winning. The Olympics would...

FADEL: I'd take olive oil.

INSKEEP: (Laughter) Take some olive oil, go do some cooking.

FADEL: I mean, that sounds good.

INSKEEP: (Laughter) That'd be great. With some laurel on your head, go into the kitchen and make something with olive oil. Wigglesworth says the medal designs also continued to evolve in keeping with the culture of host cities. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, for example, the medallions contain donations of recycled metals, and at this year's games in Paris, each medal contains a sliver - a sliver - of the Eiffel Tower.

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