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.
