Gold medal

Gold Medal

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Gold medal

A gold
Gold

Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and atomic number 79. It is a highly sought-after precious metal, having been used as money, as a store of value, in jewelry, in sculpture, and for ornamentation since the beginning of recorded history....
medal is typically the highest medal

Medal

A medal is usually a coin-like sculpted object of metal or other material that has been engraved with an insignia, portrait or other artistic rendering....
awarded for achievement in a non-military field. The concept comes from the military, initially with a simple recognition of military rank

Military rank

Military rank is a system of hierarchy relationships in armed forces or civil institutions organized along military lines. Usually, uniforms denote the bearer's rank by particular insignia affixed to the uniforms....
, and later decorations for admission to military orders dating back to medieval times.

Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have been awarded in the arts (for example by the Royal Danish Academy), usually as a symbol of an award to give an outstanding student some financial freedom.

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Encyclopedia

Medal

Military rank

UNESCO

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations established on 16 November 1945....
and various academic societies.

While most gold medals are gold-plated, notable exceptions, made of solid gold, are the Lorentz Medal

Lorentz Medal

Lorentz Medal is an award given every four years by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. It was established in 1925 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the doctorate of Hendrik Lorentz....
, the United States Congressional Gold Medal (which is shown to the right), and the Nobel Prize

Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prize , established in the 1895 will of Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel; it was first awarded in Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Nobel Prize in Literature, and Nobel Peace Prize in 1901....
medal. Nobel Prize medals are made from 18 carat

Carat (purity)

The carat is a measure of the purity of gold alloys. In the United States and Canada, the spelling karat is used, while the spelling carat is used to refer to the measure of mass for gemstones ....
green gold plated with 24 carat gold (before 1980 they were struck in 23 carat gold).

Olympic Games

The term refers to a winner's prize at the modern Olympic Games

Olympic Games

The Olympic Games are an international multi-sport event established for both summer and winter sports. There have been two generations of the Olympic Games; the first were the Ancient Olympic Games held at Olympia, Greece, Greece....
because medals were not awarded at the ancient games

Ancient Olympic Games

The Ancient Olympic Games, originally referred to as simply the Olympic Games were a series of athletic competitions held for representatives of various city-states of Ancient Greece....
. In 1896

1896 Summer Olympics

The 1896 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in Athens, Greece, from April 6 to April 15, 1896....
, winners received a silver medal

Silver medal

A silver medal is a medal awarded to the second place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc.First and third place finishers traditionally receive a gold medal and bronze medal, respectively....
; the second place received a bronze medal

Bronze medal

A bronze medal is a medal awarded to the third place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The practice of awarding bronze third place medals began at the 1904 Summer Olympics in St....
. In 1900

1900 Summer Olympics

The 1900 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the II Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1900 in Paris, France....
, most winners received cups or trophies instead of medals.

The custom of the sequence of gold

Gold

Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and atomic number 79. It is a highly sought-after precious metal, having been used as money, as a store of value, in jewelry, in sculpture, and for ornamentation since the beginning of recorded history....
-silver

Silver

Silver is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal....
-bronze

Bronze

Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive, but sometimes with other chemical element such as phosphorus, manganese, aluminium, or silicon....
for the first three places dates from the 1904 games

1904 Summer Olympics

The 1904 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the III Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in St....
and has been adopted by many other sporting events. Minting

Mint (coin)

A mint is an industrial facility which manufacturing coins for currency.The history of mints correlates closely with the history of coins. One difference is that the history of the mint is normally related in a fashion that more closely ties to the political situation of an era....
of the medals is the responsibility of the host city. From 1928

1928 Summer Olympics

The 1928 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the IX Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1928 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands....
-1968

1968 Summer Olympics

The 1968 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Mexico City in October 1968....
the design always was the same: the obverse showed a generic design by Florentine

Florence

Florence is the Capital city of the Italy Regions of Italy of Tuscany and of the provinces of Italy Province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany and has a population of 364,779 ....
artist Giuseppe Cassioli with text giving the host city; the reverse showed another generic design of an Olympic champion.

From 1972

1972 Summer Olympics

The 1972 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, in what was then West Germany, from August 26 to September 11, 1972....
-2000

2000 Summer Olympics

The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 13 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia....
, Cassioli's design (or a slight reworking) remained on the obverse with a custom design by the host city on the reverse. Noting that Cassioli's design showed a Roman amphitheater for what originally were Greek games, a new obverse design was commissioned for the Athens 2004

2004 Summer Olympics

The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team officials from 201 countries....
Games.

For the 2008 Beijing Olympics

2008 Summer Olympics

The 2008 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, People's Republic of China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008....
medals were 70mm in diameter and 6mm thick with the front showing a winged figure of victory and the back a Beijing Olympics symbol surrounded by an inset jade circle.

Winter Olympics medals have been of more varied design. The silver and bronze medals have always borne the same designs. The term "gold" refers to color, not metallic content (as the medals may contain as little as 6 grams of gold).

Competition medals

Medals have historically been given as prizes in various types of competitive activities, especially athletics.

Traditionally, medals are made of the following metals:

Gold
Gold

Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and atomic number 79. It is a highly sought-after precious metal, having been used as money, as a store of value, in jewelry, in sculpture, and for ornamentation since the beginning of recorded history....
(or another yellow metal, e.g. brass
Brass

Brass is any alloy of copper and zinc; the proportions of zinc and copper can be varied to create a range of brasses with varying properties. In comparison, bronze is principally an alloy of copper and tin....
)
Silver
Silver

Silver is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal....
(or another grey metal, e.g. steel
Steel

Steel is an alloy consisting mostly of iron, with a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.14% by weight , depending on grade. Carbon is the most cost-effective alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten....
)
Bronze
Bronze

Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive, but sometimes with other chemical element such as phosphorus, manganese, aluminium, or silicon....

These metals designate the first three Ages of Man

Ages of Man

The Ages of Man are the stages of human existence on the Earth according to Classical mythology. Two classical authors in particular offer accounts of the successive ages of mankind, which tend to progress from an original, long-gone age in which humans enjoyed a nearly divine existence to the current age of the writer, in which humans are be...
in Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....
: the Golden Age

Golden age

The term Golden age in ancient Greece mythology and legend but can also be found in other ancient cultures . It refers either to the highest age in the Greek spectrum of Iron, Bronze, Silver and Golden ages, or to a time in the beginnings of Humanity which was perceived as an ideal state, or utopia, when mankind was pure and immortal....
, when men lived among the gods; the Silver age

Silver age

A silver age is a name often given to a particular period within a history, typically as a lesser and later successor to a Golden Age , the metal silver generally being valuable, but less so than gold....
, where youth lasted a hundred years; and the Bronze Age

Heroic Age

The Heroic Age was the period of Greek mythological history that lay between the purely divine events of the Theogony and Titanomachy and the advent of historical time after the Trojan War....
, the era of heroes. (The current age is called the Iron Age

Iron Age

In archaeology, the Iron Age was the stage in the development of any people in which tools and weapons whose main ingredient was iron were prominent....
.) Note that the metals are progressively more prone to corrosion

Corrosion

Corrosion means the breaking down of essential properties in a material due to chemical reactions with its surroundings. In the most common use of the word, this means a loss of electrons of metals reacting with water and oxygen....
.

This standard was adopted at the 1904 Summer Olympics

1904 Summer Olympics

The 1904 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the III Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in St....
. At the 1896 event, silver was awarded to winners and bronze to runners-up, while at 1900 other prizes were given, not medals.

Other gold medal awards

The award of the gold medal (often coupled with a silver and a bronze medal) has been adopted in many competitive fields, from athletics to music and writing. Typically bronze medals are awarded only to third place, but in some contests there is some variety, such as International barbershop music

Barbershop music

Barbershop vocal harmony, as codified during the barbershop revival era , is a style of a cappella, or unaccompanied vocal music characterized by consonance and dissonance four-part chord s for every melody note in a predominantly homophonic texture....
contests where bronze medals are awarded for third, fourth, and fifth place.

External links

- Minerals Council of Australia
Mining in Australia

Mining in Australia is a significant primary industry and contributor to the economy of Australia and encouraged immigration to Australia. Many different ores and minerals are mined throughout the country....

Gold medal

Olympic Games

Competition medals

Other gold medal awards

See also

External links