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The established order of the fashionable Olympic Games was once the obsession of Pierre Fredy, Baron de Coubertin, a French nobleman, historian and teacher who after years of petitioning, in any case noticed his dream of re-staging the ancient world sporting tournament learned in 1896 in Athens, Greece.
However it wasn't till the third modern Olympiad in St. Louis, Missouri in 1904 that the first Gold, Silver and Bronze medals have been awarded to first, 2nd and third place athletes; earlier winners had been crowned with a wreath of Laurel leaves and were presented with a Silver medal, whilst Winter Olympic medals began with the first Winter Games in Chamonix, France in 1924.
The metals were decided on to represent the 3 ages of human civilization in historic Greek mythology; Gold representing the Golden Age when humanity lived among the Gods, Silver denoting the Silver Age when our young lived for One hundred years, and Bronze representing the Bronze Age which heralded the Hellenic Age of Heroes.
Olympic medals had been sought after by means of creditors ever since, not handiest as historic rewards for athletic excellence, but as prized commodities in their own right, in part based on the content material of their valuable metals, but also as iconic symbols of our unquenchable thirst for rare and treasured swag.
Here then is our checklist of the best 10 most precious gold medals in Olympic history.
10. The unique Olympic Games
The historical Greek Olympians won a ceremonial wreath of both Olive or Laurel leaves as a crown of victory (there is some dispute as to which was extra commonplace), which clearly doesn't hang the Trump-like appeal or price of Gold, Silver or Bronze. However, ask any historian, archeologist or sports activities fan about the significance and price of someway unearthing a petrified Laurel leaf from Pompeii or Greece, whole with a stone tablet authenticating its origins as an original Olympic victor's crown, and they would let you know breathlessly that it will be robotically helpful.
Since the chances of finding this type of fragile and uncommon object seems to be 0, however, we'll most likely by no means know, which is why despite its doable price, the historical crown of leaves comes in at quantity ten.
9. 1924 Winter Olympics
Naturally, the Gold medals from the very first Winter Olympiad in Chamonix, France would make our record, as their historic price is indeniable. While now not especially uncommon, Olympic collectors highly covet these medals merely on the energy of their being the first in their type.
8. 1904 Summer Olympic Games
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has dictated that Olympic Gold medals will have to contain a minimum of 92.5% Silver, 6.1% Copper and at least 1.34% Gold; the remaining Olympic Games in which Gold medals were made totally of Gold used to be in 1912 in Stockholm, Sweden.
By the ones parameters, clearly the higher the precise size of the medal, the extra treasured metals it'll comprise. For the final several many years, this has meant that Winter Olympic medals are more valuable than Summer medals because they have got normally been slightly higher than their sun-splashed opposite numbers.
However, our listing is drawn not only from the size and weight of the medals, but additionally their historical importance and rarity. Therefore quantity 9 on our listing is going to the Gold medals from the 1904 Olympiad in St. Louis, Missouri. As the first medals awarded at the fashionable Olympic Games, although no longer specifically rare, their ancient value speaks for themselves.
7. The 1936 Summer and Winter Games
While the ethical and moral debates surrounding Adolf Hitler's good fortune in securing those games for Germany will probably continue perpetually, there is no questioning the historic price of those medals as consultant of a shockingly darkish duration in human history, and as such they're among the most sought after through collectors of Olympic memorabilia.
Adding to their interest, the medals from the Garmisch-Partenkirchen Olympiad weigh in at 11.Four ounces, making them amongst the heftiest in Winter Olympic history.
6. 2010 Winter Olympics
After turning into the handiest host country in Olympic history to fail to earn a Gold medal in each its 1976 Summer Games in Montreal and their Winter Games in Calgary in 1988, there was huge power on the Crazy Canucks to make their third time a charm, and so they have been taking no probabilities on to any extent further humiliations.
Just previous to the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Italy, the Canadian government uncharacteristically set an formidable goal for the usually modest country of garnering extra overall medals at their 2010 Vancouver Olympiad than another country, through their 'Own the Podium' challenge, which if truth be told started at the Turin Olympiad.
Originally much maligned by means of both home and global critics, the coverage secured more funding for coaching and development of Canadian athletes over the subsequent four years than had ever ahead of been made available, and whilst the sneers and mockery of OTP continued during the Vancouver Games, Canadian athletes wound up having the closing snort.
While they fell short in their number one purpose of extra general medals than another country (with 26 total, Canada was third behind Germany with 30 and the U.S. with 37), they did set up to earn a record 14 Gold medals, one more than the previous record holder, Russia and two times as many as Canadian athletes had ever previously gained at any Winter Games.
Add to that the incontrovertible fact that at between 17.6 to 20.Three ounces, these unhealthy boy medals are lately the biggest and heaviest ever awarded, their ancient importance will most probably remain mythical, and now not simplest in Canada, eh.
5. 1912 Summer Olympics
As the final Olympiad to feature medals made from cast gold, the 1912 Games in Stockholm, Sweden hold a novel position in Olympic history. At that point, medals were considerably smaller than they're lately, measuring beneath 1.Five inches in diameter and weighing lower than an oz (by way of comparison, extra fashionable medals average about 3.5 inches in diameter and weigh between 9 and 20 ounces).
Despite their being made out of cast gold however, the petite dimension of the Stockholm Gold medals way they are simplest worth about $1,075, despite the fact that their historical price is incalculable.
4. 2002 Winter Olympics
While no longer particularly rare, the Salt Lake City Gold medals do hold the difference of being the first in Olympic history to weigh in at over one pound (20 oz.), and however their unique position in Olympic lore, by lately's gold worth by myself, they're value over $25,000 each.
3. 2012 Summer Olympics
At between 13.2 and 14.1 oz, the Gold medals awarded in London are recently the largest and heaviest of any in the history of the Summer Games, and are worth over $52,000 apiece on lately's gold market.
2. 1936 Jesse Owens Gold medal
On December 8, 2013 the sole surviving of the 4 Gold medals received via U.S. Track and Field legend Jesse Owens at the infamous Berlin Games of 1936, was bought via a web-based auction.
The unmarked medal used to be prior to now owned via the third spouse of American entertainer Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson, a detailed personal pal of Owens, who used to be given the medal as a gift in gratitude for Robinson's improve after Owens declared chapter in 1939.
While four substitute Gold medals had been ceremoniously presented to Owens in 1976 (they currently are living in his Alma Mater of Ohio State University), nobody together with Owens' personal family have any thought what turned into of the different three unique medals; Owens won Gold in the 100m, 200m, 400m relay and the Long Jump, becoming the first athlete in Olympic history to win 4 Golds in one Olympiad, environment 3 World data and matching or breaking 9 Olympic data in the process; a merely stunning achievement of incredible athletic talent.
The historical price of the medal doesn't prevent there, alternatively, as Owens' impressive effects were not just a stinging rebuke of Hitler's ludicrous 'Aryan Supremacy' ideology, hoisting a huge heart finger to the horrors and bigotry of Fascist Nazism, but more importantly was a powerful demonstration of the attainable held by way of Black Americans, who at the moment have been nonetheless largely thought to be as 'inferior' in their very own nation.
The profitable bid was once put ahead by American billionaire Ron Burkle, who forked out $1.Forty six million for this precious sliver of worldwide history.
1. 2014 Winter Olympics
While not the biggest or heaviest Winter medals (at 3.Nine inches in diameter and weighing between 16.2 and 18.7 oz.), the Gold medals to be awarded at this 12 months's Winter Olympiad are unquestionably meaty, but that is not what makes them most sensible our checklist.
With the advent of Jade in the Gold medals handed out in Beijing, China in 2008, Olympic medal production entered a brand new section, which the Russians seem poised to win, at least for now.
Some lucky Olympic champions will receive Gold medals that come with fragments of a meteorite that struck the Russian city of Chelyabinsk on February 15, 2013. Those athletes who win their events on the 365 days anniversary of the affect will obtain these exceptionally unique medals.
However, that isn't the simplest reason why we've got awarded Sochi 2014 primary standing, as those Games are sadly shaping as much as be amongst the most harrowing in Olympic history.
As tensions and fears over mounting safety concerns proceed to escalate, it is any individual's guess as to how those Games may unfold, making many athletes, officials and spectators uneasy about whether or not Sochi may herald an entirely new and unpleasant fact for the event, that of home or global terrorism.
Let's hope the Sochi 2014 medals will remain iconic for all the right reasons.
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