Overall Medal Standings

Rank	Country	G S B T
1	CHN - China	47 17 25 89
2	USA - United States	31 36 35 102
3	GER - Germany	14 9 13 36
4	KOR - Korea	11 10 7 28
5	AUS - Australia	12 14 16 42
6	JPN - Japan	9 6 10 25
7	GBR - Great Britain	18 13 13 44
8	ITA - Italy	7 8 10 25
9	RUS - Russian Fed.	17 18 22 57
10	UKR - Ukraine	5 4 12 21

• G= Gold Medal
• S= Silver Medal
• B= Bronze Medal
• T= Total

Olympic Medals

Olympic Medals History

The revival of the ancient Olympics attracted athletes from 14 nations, with the largest delegations coming from Greece, Germany, France and Great Britain. On 6 April 1896, the American James Connolly won the triple jump to become the first Olympic champion in more than 1,500 years. Winners were awarded a silver medal and an olive branch. The German athlete Carl Schumann finished in the top five events of three different sports. The people of Athens greeted the Games with great enthusiasm. Their support was rewarded when a Greek shepherd, Spyridon Louis, won the most popular event, the marathon.

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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 (or another yellow metal, e.g. brass)
• Silver (or another grey metal, e.g. steel)
• Bronze

These metals designate the first three Ages of Man in Greek mythology: the Golden Age, when men lived among the gods; the Silver age, where youth lasted a hundred years; and the Bronze Age, the era of heroes.

This standard was adopted at the 1904 Summer Olympics. At the 1896 event, silver was awarded to winners and bronze to runners-up, while at 1900 other prizes were given, not medals.

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. A medal may be awarded to a person or organization as a form of recognition for athletic, military, scientific, academic or some other kind of achievement. Medals may also be created to commemorate individuals or events or even as works of artistic expression in their own right. There are also devotional medals, which may be worn as a matter of religious faith. Medals are popular collectable items either as a form of exonumia or “paranumismatica”, or of militaria phaleristics.

The most common form of medal is round and made of bronze, but they may be produced in any shape desired and formed of any material that is suitable for sculpting, molding, casting, striking or stamping. A medallion is a large medal which may be commemorative or produced as a work of art or souvenir, and occasionally referred to as a “table medal”; in colloquial use, the term medallion is sometimes used to refer to ornamental jewelry worn as a pendant as part of a necklace. Art medals can also be produced in a parallelogram shape as a plaquette or larger plaque (the latter term also having non-medallic applications).

2008 Olympic Medals

For the first time jade is used for the Beijing Olympic medals. The medals have been designed with inspiration coming from "bi", China's ancient jade piece inscribed with a dragon pattern. The medals symbolise nobility and virtue and are the embodiment of traditional Chinese values of ethics and honour, emitting a strong Chinese flavour. The winners’ medal is made of gold weighing not less than six grammes each. The medal for the runner-up is made of pure silver.

Noble and elegant, the medals are a blending of traditional Chinese culture and Olympism. On their obverse side, the medals reflect the Greek character of the Olympic Games: the goddess of victory Nike pictured in the Panathinaikos Stadium. While on their reverse side, the medals are inlaid with jade with the Beijing Games emblem engraved in the metal centrepiece. The design inspiration of the medal hook derives from jade "huang", a ceremonial jade piece decorated with a double dragon pattern and "Pu", the reed mat pattern.

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