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When did the Olympic tradition of gold, silver, and bronze medals become established?
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Pierre and Marie Curie depicted on the obverse of a medal from the Unio Internationalis Contra Cancrum (International Union Against Cancer) commemorating the Curies' discovery of radium in 1898.
The tradition of awarding gold, silver, and bronze medals was not present at the start of the modern Olympic Games in 1896, where winners received silver medals and second-place finishers received copper medals.1
While the 1900 Games in Paris introduced rectangular medals for the top three finishers, the standard practice of awarding gold, silver, and bronze medals was not firmly established until the 1904 Olympic Games.1