Officials Medal from the 1924 Summer Olympic Games, Paris
date: label: date made
content: 1924
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: Shield shaped, gold colored medal with a white border and the Olympic rings at the top of the medal. Embossed image of a ship in the center of the medal. "VIII Olympiad Paris 1924" in set in gold along the white border of the medal. This belonged to the donor's father, Ben Levine. Levine was a participant in the development of amateur sports competition from 1902 as a boy of 13 when he went to work for James Sullivan, President of the Amateur Athletic Union until his retirement from the A.A.U. in 1968. Levine's primary contribution was to Amateur boxing, which he first promoted prior to 1920. He staged the first Golden Gloves and was the Assistant Manager of the U.S. Boxing teams at the 1924 and 1928 Olympic Games and an international jurist in boxing at the Olympics in 1932.
label: Description (Brief)
content: The 1924 Summer Olympics, also known as the Games of the VIII Olympiad were held in Paris, France with 44 countries, 2,954 men and 135 women athletes participating. This marks the first Olympics where the media played a role in broadcasting the Olympics worldwide. This was also the first Olympics where the motto Citius, Altius, Fortius (Faster, Higher, Stronger) was used and the first to feature a closing ceremony. Although not official, an Olympic Village complete with running water, a post office and hairdresser was constructed for the first time as well. US swimmer Johnny Weismuller’s first Olympic appearance earned him three gold medals in swimming and a bronze in water polo. He beat favorite Duke Kahanamoku in the 100-meter men’s final although Kahanamoku was the first American to win three medals in the event taking the silver. American Helen Wills won gold in the tennis singles and doubles tournaments although this was the last year tennis would appear in the Olympics until its return in 1988 due to a question of amateur standings of some of the athletes. The United States won the medal count with 99.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: web subject
content: Sports
label: name of sport
content: Boxing
label: level of sport
content: Amateur
label: level of sport
content: Olympics
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Sport and Leisure
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Bertram Levine
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1991.0049.06
label: catalog number
content: 1991.0049.06
label: accession number
content: 1991.0049
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Medal
label: Object Name
content: medal, olympic
label: Object Name
content: medal, summer olympics
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 1 1/4 in x 1 1/2 in; 3.175 cm x 3.81 cm