page_title: Olympic medal
hierarchical_section_title: Olympic medal
context_page_description: An Olympic medal is awarded to successful competitors at one of the Olympic Games. There are three classes of medal: gold, awarded to the winner; silver, awarded to the runner-up; and bronze, awarded to the third place. The granting of awards is laid out in detail in the Olympic protocols.
  Medal designs have varied considerably since the first Olympic Games in 1896, particularly in size and weight. A standard obverse design of the medals for the Summer Olympic Games began with the 1928 Games and remained for many years, until its replacement at the 2004 Games in Athens as the result of controversy surrounding the use of the Roman Colosseum rather than a building representing the Games' Greek roots. The medals of the Winter Olympic Games never had a common design, but regularly feature snowflakes and the event where the medal has been won.
  In addition to generally supporting their Olympic athletes, some countries provide sums of money and gifts to medal winners, depending on the classes and number of medals won.
  Total medals won are used to rank competitor nations in medal tables, these may be compiled for a specific discipline, for a particular Games, or over all time.
context_section_description: An Olympic medal is awarded to successful competitors at one of the Olympic Games. There are three classes of medal: gold, awarded to the winner; silver, awarded to the  runner-up; and bronze, awarded to the third place.  The granting of awards is laid out in detail in the Olympic protocols.
  Medal designs have varied considerably since the first Olympic Games in 1896, particularly in size and weight.  A standard obverse (front) design of the medals for the Summer Olympic Games began with the 1928 Games and remained for many years, until its replacement at the 2004 Games in Athens as the result of controversy surrounding the use of the Roman Colosseum rather than a building representing the Games' Greek roots.  The medals of the Winter Olympic Games never had a common design, but regularly feature snowflakes and the event where the medal has been won.
  In addition to generally supporting their Olympic athletes, some countries provide sums of money and gifts to medal winners, depending on the classes and number of medals won.
  Total medals won are used to rank competitor nations in medal tables, these may be compiled for a specific discipline, for a particular Games, or over all time. These totals always total event placements rather than actual medals—a victory in a team event (such as relay race) equates to a single gold for such rankings even though each team member would receive a physical medal.
caption: A silver medal awarded to the winner of an event at the first modern Olympic Games in 1896.
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