History of Olympic gold, silver and bronze glitters in Paris museum
As nearly 11,000 obsessed and stressed athletes continue their preparations around the globe for the 2024 Olympics in Paris in just over three months, around 5,000 gold, silver and bronze medals remain under lock and key in the various vaults of La Monnaie de Paris – the Paris Mint – waiting to garland the frames of the elite three who will receive gold, silver and bronze for coming first, second and third in their event.
It wasn't always so. The inaugural edition of the modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896 offered a silver and a bronze medal to the top two - a radical departure from the ancient games in Greece where only the winner was hailed.
For the reboot in the late 19th century, La Monnaie de Paris made the medals. "At the time, La Monnaie de Paris was making Greek coins," explained Dominique Antérion who is curating the exhibition Gold, Silver Bronze at the latter day La Monnaie de Paris about the history of Olympic medals.
"So making the medals for the Games was the same kind of thing – more or less."
And to underline the stature of La Monnaie de Paris at the genesis of the era inspired by the Frenchman Pierre de Courbetin, the exhibition boasts the first Olympic medal designed by Jules-Clément Chaplain.
"We have the two tools – the two dies – to make the medal for the front and back," Antérion added proudly.
The medal of the American triple jumper James Connolly – the first winner of an Olympic medal – adorns the exhibition along with the five gold medals from the 1924 Paris Games brandished by Finland's Paavo Nurmi who was nicknamed 'the Flying Finn' for his exploits in the middle and long distance races.
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