The Olympics is upon us. From Saturday, the world’s eye would be on the medals table of the 2012 London Games. It is where reputations are enhanced or shattered. From the most populous nation in the world to Jamaica that has around three million inhabitants, every country would want to know where it is on the pecking order at the globe’s greatest sports show.

The International Olympic Committee had a plan in 1921 to abolish medals table because it thought the tally of gold, silver and bronze encouraged jingoism. The IOC, however, gave up the unworkable idea. Nationalism is inherent to the Olympics, even if its founding fathers had nobler ideas about the quadrennial event.

With the freshly minted medals of the London Games ready to be distributed to the fastest, highest and strongest, a trip down memory lane to trace the evolution of the spherical things wouldn’t be amiss.

What did James B. Connolly of the US, the first champion of the modern Olympics, get for winning the triple jump? An olive wreath, a diploma and a silver medal. The runner-up got a branch of laurel, a diploma and a copper/bronze medal. There was nothing for third place except fond memories.
It was only from the 1904 Games at St. Louis that gold, silver and bronze were awarded to first, second and third place. The previous edition had three medals but the winner’s prize was made of gilt silver.

From the 1928 Games, the Greek goddess of victory, Nike, holding a palm branch in her left hand and a winner’s crown in the right became a standard design for the facing side of Olympic medals. The IOC selected Italian artist Giuseppe Cassioli’s design after a global competition. The reverse of the medals depicted an Olympic champion being carried by a crowd with the Olympic stadium serving as a background.

There were two sets of medals for the 1956 Games as equestrian events were held in Sweden because quarantine laws were strict in the host country, Australia.

Cassioli’s creation survived the test of time until the 1972 Olympics. For the Munich Games, the IOC permitted the local organising committee to come up with its own design for the reverse while keeping the obverse side the same. The imagery of an Olympic champion being carried by a crowd gave way for the twin sons of supreme Greek god, Zeus. So the reverse of all Olympic medals wouldn’t be the same from Munich.

The facing side of Olympic medals also underwent a change in 2004 when the Games returned to its birthplace, Athens. The local organisers wanted to combine elements of the ancient Games and its modern avatar. The design featured Nike, the mythical winged goddess, in a standing position and Athens’ Panathenaic Stadium, where the first modern Games was staged, in the background.

Until the 1960 Olympics, the medals were awarded in a box. The custom of placing them around the winners’ neck came into force from Rome. Another strange practice the IOC persisted with until the 1932 Olympics was awarding the medals on the final day of the Games. Medal podium and raising the national flag were also introduced at Los Angeles.

The medal ceremony is a poignant moment in the Olympics. Even a multiple medal winner like Carl Lewis couldn’t contain his emotions when he received his ninth career gold at the Atlanta Games in 1996.