Olympic Medals

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Every four years the world gears up for the biggest sporting event in the universe, the Olympics. The finest athletes from every corner of the globe are put head-to-head, each of them with their eyes on the shiny prize - the Olympic medal.

Beijing 2008 Medals

The Olympic Games 2008 medals are unique to China in shape, colour and meaning. They have been inspired by China's ancient jade jewellery known as ‘bi', which is inscribed with a dragon pattern. The medals are made of gold and jade, and signify the traditional Chinese values of ethics, honour, nobility and virtue. On one side, the medals are inscribed with the standard Olympic Committee emblem, a representation of the winged goddess of victory Nike and Panathinaikos Arena, and on the other side, the official Beijing Games logo. 

Medals History

The Olympic Medals are 70mm in diameter, and 6mm thick. 2008 is the first year that jade has been incorporated to the medals. Medals are actually a more recent addition to the Olympic Games than many assume. In the ancient Olympics, the first place winner was given an olive wreath on his head for his achievements, while second and third place winners received nothing.

Medals were introduced at the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, and strangely enough, silver was awarded to the first place winners, as gold was then seen as an inferior metal. This was changed from 1904 onwards with gold as the prize for the primary place winner.

Olympic Medal Trivia:

• The standard Olympic Committee emblem has been unchanged for 80 years, it was first manufactured on medals for the 1928 Amsterdam Games.
• Medals are not actually entirely gold, they are actually silver (at least 92.5%) plated in at least 6 grams of gold.  The last medals minted completely of gold were for the 1912 Stockholm Games.
  
• The oldest Olympic medallist was a 72 year old Swedish shooter by the name of Oscar Swahn, at the 1920 Antwerp Games.
• The youngest winner has never formally been recognised, in fact he doesn't even have a name. He was a 7 year old who replaced a man deemed too heavy to compete in the rowing event in 1900. The team he stood in to claimed the gold.

New Zealand Medals

New Zealand claimed its first Olympic medal in the 1908 Olympics in London. New Zealand and Australia were joined as a collaborative team for these games and the 1912 games, and only competed as separate nations for the first time in 1920.

Harry Kerr was one-fourth of the Australasian walking team who claimed the first medal for Kiwis - a bronze. The first gold for New Zealand was also in a team event with Australia, which was won by Malcolm Champion in 1912 in the 4 x 100 swimming relay event. It wasn't until 1928 in Amsterdam when we claimed our first individual gold as a solo country, which was won by boxer Ted Morgan.

When New Zealand wins, we really go for gold. Cumulatively, the New Zealand Olympic teams over the years have won more gold medals over the years than silver or bronze medals, our most successful Games to date being 1984 Los Angeles, where 8 golds were taken home.

To the 2004 Athens Games, New Zealand ranked thirtieth in the world in the total medal rankings, with 33 gold medals in total. While we're not in the same league as the big boys like the USA (895 golds) or Russia (395), per capita New Zealand ranks sixth in the world.

2008 Medals Tally

We'll be updating the New Zealand medal winners at the Beijing Games daily, so don't forget to return regularly from August 9 to check out the updated NZS.com tally!

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Sports images from Flickr: Torino 2006 Olympic Medal, Yachts and Cricket.