Olympic medal

… podium and get a gold medal placed around their necks, the moment—and the medal—is priceless. But the reality is that the gold medal is not worth much more than the silver medal around the neck of the second-place finisher.

For athletes, winning an Olympic medal of any kind represents a reward for years (and sometimes decades) of hard work and dedication in pursuit of excellence in their specialized activity, with a gold medal being the highest summit. For countries, however, garnering gold, silver, and bronze medals is a…