The medal is an important part of the culture of the Winter Olympics, which is not only an affirmation of the athletes' achievements, carrying a story of struggle, but also condensing the wonderful creativity of the designers and the cultural heritage of the host country. Compared with the Medals of the Summer Olympic Games, the medals of the Winter Olympic Games are larger and more peculiar in style, and are given a variety of fantastic ideas.
(1) The first participants will all win medals
Winning a heavy Olympic medal is the dream of many athletes, but only a very small number of them can achieve their wishes, which also shows the preciousness of Olympic medals. But in the first Winter Olympics, all the participating athletes won medals.
In 1924, the first Winter Olympics were held in Chamonix, France. Curiously, the medals of the bronze medalists of this Winter Olympic Games were awarded by the organizing committee to each participating athlete and named the "Commemorative Award" (also known as the "Participation Award"), which is the only time in the history of the Olympic Sport that the winner's medal has also been used as a participation award. The first Winter Olympics were indeed a big deal, with a total of 2,000 medals. However, although the style is consistent, the significance of participating in the award cannot be compared with the bronze medal.
Gold medal at the 1924 Summer Monni Winter Olympics
Since then, the Olympic medals have not been so easy to obtain, and the "gold content" is getting higher and higher. In particular, the 1936 Winter Olympics at Garmisch-Partenkirchen produced only 109 medals, the smallest number of medals.
1936 Winter Olympics at Garmisch-Partenkirchen
Early Winter Olympic medals did not have straps, and were handed to the winning athletes directly or in boxes when awards were awarded.
At the 1932 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, the Americans won gold and silver medals in the men's 5,000-meter speed skating. Interestingly, at the time of the award, the bronze medalist, the Canadian player (on the far left of the picture), was taking off his skates.
At the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, Norway, awards were presented for the women's figure skating competition. At that time, the medals were not yet equipped with straps and were distributed in boxes to athletes.
It was not until the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck that medals began to be worn with ribbons, which were hung around the necks of athletes.
Awards ceremony for figure skating for the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck. Until this Winter Olympics, the medals were finally matched with ribbons, and athletes could hang on their chests.
Figure skating awards ceremony at the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble. The medals for this Winter Olympics are hung on a colorful striped ribbon.
(2) Winter Olympic medals are generally large
Some attentive Olympic fans have found that the medals of the Winter Olympics are generally larger than those of the Summer Olympics. Why? It turns out that the clothing of winter Olympic athletes is heavy, and if the medals are too small, they are not eye-catching enough.
The early Summer Olympic medals were only thirty or forty millimeters in diameter and were very small. For example, medals at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London and the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm were both 33 mm in diameter. Later, the diameter of the medals of the Summer Olympic Games gradually increased, and after more than a hundred years of development, the medals of the recent Summer Olympic Games increased to a diameter of more than 80 mm.
The diameter of the medals at the Winter Olympics starts directly from more than 50 millimeters. The medals at the first Chamonix Winter Olympics were 55 mm in diameter, the same as the medals at the Paris Summer Olympics in the same year. In the period since, the medals of the Winter Olympic Games have been about the same size as the medals of the Summer Olympic Games in the same period. But since the mid-1970s, the speed at which the Winter Olympic medals have grown has gradually knocked the Summer Olympics off. For example, medals at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck had a diameter of 72 millimeters, and at the Montreal Summer Olympics in the same year, the diameter of medals at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville was 92 millimetres and at the Barcelona Summer Olympics in the same year was 70 millimeters; the diameter of medals at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin was 107 millimetres, and the diameter of medals at the two adjacent Summer Olympics was 60 millimeters and 70 millimetres, respectively.
(3) Show more fantastic ideas
Since the Ninth Summer Olympic Games in 1928, the pattern on the front of the Medals of the Summer Olympic Games has been officially unified.
According to the requirements of the International Olympic Committee, the front pattern of the medal is fixed to the ancient arena and the statue of the goddess of victory, and the back of the medal can be designed by the host country. Later, the size of the medal was also limited - round, the gold medal has a diameter of at least 60 mm, a thickness of at least 3 mm, and a gold plating amount of at least 6 grams of pure gold. From 1928 to 1968, the medal design of the Summer Olympic Games was based on the same design scheme. It wasn't until the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich that tradition was broken with a different design on the back.
According to the IOC regulations, the medals of the Winter Olympic Games should be different from those of the Summer Olympic Games, and there is no unified standard, which reduces the restrictions and gives the Winter Olympic medal design a lot of autonomy. As a result, the Winter Olympic medals have shown a more colorful appearance in terms of types, forms and sizes, including many fantastic ideas.
The medal at the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, with a pictogram of the sport on the back, was the first time in Olympic history.
The 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo broke with tradition and created the first non-circular Winter Olympic medal. The medal design of the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo also broke with the norm and was very peculiar in shape.
Many believe that the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville represented a revolution in Olympic medal design and technology. The French wielded romance, designing medals made of crystal glass, inlaid with gold, silver and bronze, and the gradient design gave people a sense of perspective. However, this medal is also relatively fragile, and some of the winning athletes accidentally broke the medal. Luckily, the organizers awarded them medals again.
This design concept was also adopted at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, where the central material, in addition to gold, silver and copper wrapping, was a 600 million-year-old Precambrian clastic rock from Northern Europe in Norway. The stones were collected during the construction of the alpine ski jumping site.
The 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City produced the heaviest medal in winter Olympic history. The weight of the gold and silver medals reached 567 grams, and the bronze medal weighed 454 grams. It was almost twice as heavy as the medals at the previous Nagano Winter Olympics. The shape of the medals is also distinctive, designed according to the rocks in the river, and each medal is done by hand, differently, as if it were formed by natural baptism.
The 2006 Turin Winter Olympics medal is unique in that it has a circular hole in the middle of the medal, inspired by the central church square in front of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Italy.
(4) Bronze medal that is 50 years late
Competing for gold, silver, bronze, wonderful stories about medals, there is no end to it.
At the first Winter Olympics, an emotional event occurred. A ski jumper from the United States won the bronze medal he deserved after 50 years.
In 1974, the athletes who represented Norway at the first Winter Olympics of 1924 celebrated their 50th anniversary reunion. At the event, the Norwegian sports historian Jacob Wagger raised a problem he found, that is, there was a calculation error in the ski jumping competition that year, and the bronze medalist Norwegian athlete Torreve Hauge scored lower than the fourth American athlete Anders Hauge, so the bronze medal should have been Haugen. It turned out that Hauge's score at that time was miscalculated by the staff as 18 points, surpassing Hauge's score of 17.917. But in reality, Haug's score should be 17.813.
Although 50 years had passed, the people present at the time thought it was no small matter and they quickly informed the IOC. The IOC took it very seriously, and immediately after verification, contacted the parties concerned and found that Hauge had died in 1934, and Hauge was still alive and teaching skiing.
On September 12, 1974, the International Olympic Committee held a medal handover ceremony in Oslo, Norway, and Hauge's daughter solemnly returned the bronze medal that had been preserved for 50 years to Haugen, who was in her 80s.
At the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, one name became a household name in China overnight, and that was Ye Qiaobo. She won two silver medals in 500m speed skating and 1000m speed skating, and finally achieved China's breakthrough of zero medals at the Winter Olympics.
At the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, the award ceremony for the women's speed skating 1000 meters, China's Ye Qiaobo (left) won the second place, and China achieved a "zero breakthrough" in the Winter Olympic medals.
Just because of the narrow gap of 0.02 seconds, Ye Qiaobo and the champion missed each other, and she looked forward to winning back a gold medal for the motherland at the next Winter Olympics.
However, injuries haunted her, and five months before the 1994 Winter Olympics, doctors removed at least five thumb-sized bones from her knee. Doctors thought it would be difficult for her to play in ice again, but Ye Qiaobo threw herself into training with strong convictions. The kneecap slipped, and she straightened it herself with her hands and wrapped nine layers of gauze to continue training. In order to compete, she insisted on acupuncture treatment, and her legs were densely packed with needles every night.
She finally stood on the Winter Olympic field again, took part in the battle with an injury, and won the bronze medal in the women's speed skating 1000 meters at the Winter Olympics. A tragic bronze medal shocked countless Chinese people. Hanging an ice knife and riding a wheelchair triumphantly, Ye Qiaobo created a myth of the world of that year.
(5) The Winter Olympics will set up a separate square for the awards
The award ceremony has always been an important part of the Olympic ceremony. Unlike the award ceremony held in the competition venue immediately after the summer Olympic games, after the final of the Winter Olympic Games, only the souvenir award ceremony will be held in the competition venue, and the award ceremony and celebration performances will be held in the award square.
The establishment of a separate awards plaza began at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. At that time, the awards plaza was located in the Olympic Square in the city center. On the square stands a statue of the ancient Greek athletic athlete Coloypos. The winner of the first ancient Olympic running competition is considered the first champion of the Olympic Games. Under the watchful eye of Coloipos, the Calgary Winter Olympic champion took to the podium to greet the enthusiastic audience and the city.
The establishment of the awards plaza and the centralized award ceremony every day are a historic change for the Winter Olympics. This makes the ice heroes closer to the audience and more conducive to expanding the influence of the Winter Olympics. During the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, the three award squares of Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou will undertake the awarding task to create unforgettable highlights for the athletes of the Winter Olympics.
Edition 2: On November 16, 2021, Beijing Evening News reported that the 2022 Winter Olympics Beijing Awards Plaza Lindian Project in the Beijing Olympic Park was successfully delivered to the high voltage.
(6) "Concentric" continues the wonderful "gold inlaid jade"
The 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics medal "Gold inlaid Jade" has amazed the world in its innovation in materials. Everyone is also looking forward to the medals of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
Edition 1: On September 22, 2020, Beijing Daily reported that the collection, reception and evaluation of medal works for the Beijing Winter Olympics have been completed.
On October 26, the medals for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games were grandly released.
The medals of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games are composed of a ring and a center, and the image is derived from the ancient Chinese concentric circle jade bi, with a total of five rings. The five rings are concentric and concentric, expressing the Connotation of Chinese Culture of "Heaven and Earth Together, People's Hearts and Minds".
The front ring of the medal is concave, which is inspired by the traditional string pattern jade bi, maintaining the consistency with the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics medal "gold inlaid jade" jade bi shape system, reflecting the cultural heritage of the double Olympic city. In the decorative pattern, the ice and snow pattern shows the characteristics of the Winter Olympic Games, and the auspicious cloud pattern conveys the auspicious meaning.
The back of the medal is engraved with 24 dots and movement arcs, which are inspired by ancient astronomical maps, symbolizing the vast starry sky and the athletes shining like stars.
2022 Beijing Winter Olympics Medal - Front
2022 Beijing Winter Olympics medal - back
After repeated comparisons with physical proofing and actual wearing, the team set the diameter of the medal at 87 mm. The length of the ribbon of the medal was also tested to ensure that the athlete was in the most appropriate position when wearing it.
The Winter Paralympic medals and the Winter Olympic medals are from the same image source, and the design is in the same vein.
As one of the important elements of the cultural landscape of the Winter Olympics, the medal is a tribute to the Olympic spirit and the highest honor given to athletes. More than a month later, we will witness the glorious moment when athletes ascended to the podium of the Beijing Winter Olympics and wore the "One Heart" medal.