by Bright Ewuru | Jun 27, 2024 | Articles
“For the glory of the olive wreath, I contend” – Ancient Greek athletes’ slogan
In the year 776 BCE, the Olympic games began in Greece. They were held every four years at Olympia in honour of the Greek god Zeus and featured multiple athletic contests including sprinting, javelin throw, long-distance racing, wrestling and long jump.
As one of the most important competitions in ancient Greece, the Olympic games were a fundamental part of the culture and held deep religious significance.
The main award in the ancient Olympic games was the olive wreath—the kotinos. The olive wreaths were made from branches of the sacred olive tree near the temple of Zeus and were awarded only to the champions. As a symbol of victory, it was a simple yet highly prestigious reward, emphasising honour and the glory of achievement over material reward.
Fast forward to modern times, following the revival of the Olympic games in 1896, Olympic awards have evolved from ancient olive wreaths to medals, trophies and other forms of recognition.
With the Paris 2024 Olympics just around the corner, let’s look at some fun, interesting statistics about awards and medals from Olympic history.
With the switch from the hallowed olive wreath to various classes of medals, it’s interesting to know how many medals, in general, and gold medals, in particular, are awarded at the Olympics.
In either case, the numbers aren’t fixed; they vary with each event edition and depend on the number of sports included. At the last Summer Olympics event, Tokyo 2020 (held from July to August 2021 due to the pandemic), 340 gold medals were awarded across 33 different sports. A total of 1,080 medals were awarded.
However, in Rio 2016, 306 gold medals were awarded, while a total of 972 medals were awarded across 28 sports.
Some countries give their medalists cash awards depending on the Olympic medal won. Singapore takes the lead by paying its athletes S$1,000,000, S$500,000 and S$250,000 (approximately $737,000, $369,000 and $184,000) for winning gold, silver and bronze medals respectively.
Australia pays $15,000, $11,000 and $7,000 for winning gold, silver and bronze respectively; the United States pays $37,500, $22,500 and $15,000 in the same order.
New Zealand and Great Britain reportedly offer no monetary incentives to their medal winners.
As part of the country’s larger sustainability efforts, the Tokyo 2020 medals were made from 78,985 tons of recycled electronics from across Japan. It marked the first time a country’s citizens were proactively involved in donating the electronic devices used to make the medals. An ingenious way to make events and awards programs environmentally friendly!
75% of the 206 National Olympic Committees (156) have earned at least one medal, a testament to the distribution of sports talent around the world as many countries, regardless of size or condition, have managed to produce Olympic medallists.
The Special Olympics award participation and sportsmanship regardless of the outcome. At the Berlin 2023 games, 4,002 medals were awarded to athletes who took first to third place. In a gesture that understands the remarkable power of recognition, 6,670 placement ribbons were awarded to athletes who took fourth to eighth place.
Also, athletes who were disqualified or didn’t finish their competition were awarded participation ribbons.
Olympic awards have transformed over time, evoloving to acknowledge not just the champions but other contenders too. These Olympic medals and awards statistics offer deep insights into the historical evolution and growing social impact of the Olympic games.
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