Olympic Games: Real Medal Standings. Olympic Games: Real Medal Standings 1956 Winter Olympics Medal Standings

Photo: REUTERS

Pyeongchang will host the 2018 Winter Olympic Games from February 9 to February 25. About 2,500 athletes will take part in them. They will compete for 102 sets of medals in 15 disciplines.

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Winter Olympic Games conducted since 1924. There used to be two winter sports - figure skating and hockey - were presented at summer Olympics... But at first, the 1924 Winter Olympics in Chamonix was timed Summer Games and was called "International Sports Week on the occasion of the VIII Olympiad". The success of the competition was so great that it was decided to hold and Winter Games with the same frequency as the Summer Olympics - every four years.

This rule has been violated twice. The 1940 and 1944 Olympics were canceled due to World War II. The second time, the frequency has changed for a pleasant reason. The International Olympic Committee has decided that it is not very good to hold both Summer and Winter Games in the same year. And then the "white" Olympics were shifted for two years: so the 16th and 17th Winter Games in Albertville -92 and Lillehammer -94 were separated by only two years.

Disciplines and awards

At the first Winter Olympics in 1924, only 14 sets of awards were played. But with each Games, the number of participants and the number of disciplines grew, and there will already be more than 100 award ceremonies in Pyeongchang.

For 2018 in the number of winter Olympic sports sports include:

Skiing

Ski race

Ski jumping

Ski nordic

Freestyle

Snowboard

Figure skating

Skating

Short track

Skeleton

Luge

Hockey

Venues

Since winter sports require special infrastructure, such as ice skating rinks, jumps, ski trails, and more, the "white" Olympics were held only on three continents - in Europe, North America and Asia. Moreover, the Asians got into this company. Only in 1972, when the Games were held in Sapporo, Japan. In fact, Asia should have appeared on this list much earlier. But in 1940, the Olympics in Sapporo were canceled due to World War II.

Russia and the USSR at the Winter Olympics

This is a paradox, but the first gold medal in winter sports, Russia won at the Summer Olympics. And this was generally the first in the history of the country olympic gold... At the 1908 Games in London, skater Nikolai Panin-Kolmenkin became the champion in the discipline of "special figures", which was no longer represented in the program at the subsequent Olympiads. It is noteworthy that Panin-Kolmenkin also participated in the 2012 Summer Olympics, but already in pistol shooting competitions.

The USSR national team took part in the Winter Olympics for the first time in 1956. And immediately won 7 gold medals, 3 silver and 6 bronze medals, becoming the first in the unofficial team competition.

In 1992, after the collapse of the USSR Russian athletes performed as part of the united CIS team under the Olympic flag. And since 1994, the Russian national team has already been an independent team.

Winter Olympics records

Olympic records in winter competitions are recorded in only two sports: speed skating and short track speed skating. Because in all other disciplines, where the flight time or distance is recorded, for example, in ski jumping, much depends on the topography of the tracks or the very design of the sports facility.

Russian luger Albert Demchenko took part in seven Olympiads! This is a kind of absolute Olympic record. His first Games were Albertville-92, and he finished his performances in Sochi -2014. True, Demchenko did not manage to win gold - he has only three "silver".

Lydia Skoblikova won two gold medals at the 1960 games, and four years later - four more, and is the only 6-time Olympic champion in speed skating.

Norwegian Ole Einar Bjoerndalen is an 8-time Olympic champion. In Sochi, at the age of 40, he won three gold medals.

Karl-August Kronlund from Sweden is the oldest medalist of the Winter Olympics. He won a creling silver with the Sweden national team at the age of 59 years and 155 days.

South Korean athlete Kim Yun Mi is the youngest champion. In the 1994 short track speed skating competition, she won the 3000m relay at the age of 13 years and 85 days.

Summer olympic games is just around the corner, which means that the time has come to present to your attention our next infographic, which will show the real value of the medals being played - the highest achievement in the world of sports.

It is no secret that the United States is in the lead in the overall team classification in terms of the number of won medals. On account of the Americans 2403 medals of various denominations, which is 1000 more than the Russian national team, which occupies the second place (taking into account the results of the USSR).

As a reminder, this year 306 sets of medals will be played in Rio de Janeiro. In addition, such exotic sports as rugby-7 and golf appeared in the competition program (the last time golfers competed at the Olympic Games was 112 years ago).

But what is the real value of gold, silver and bronze medals in monetary terms? Our latest infographic will help you answer that question.

Be warned: simply multiplying the weight by the cost of the metal will not work.

And that's why. So, this year's medals are the largest in the history of the competition. Whole 8.5 cm in diameter, 6 mm thick at the edges and 11 mm in the middle. If such a medal were made of pure gold, its weight would be 1 kg, and the market value would be $ 39,812 or £ 30,161.

However, the organizers are not that generous. The gold medals minted by the Brazilian Mint (Casa da Moeda do Brasil) are composed of silver (91.4%), copper (7.4%) and a small amount of gold (1.2%, total 6 grams), which according to the current market prices are estimated at approximately $ 546 (£ 413).

If you take a short excursion into history, you can find out that the first Summer Olympic Games in Athens (1896) were very different from the modern ones. Then, for example, the winners did not receive gold medals at all. Instead, silver counterparts and a twig of an olive tree were awarded. The runners-up were awarded bronze medallions.

At the next Olympics, in Paris (1900), the winners received silver medals for the first places and bronze for the second. The third place holders were not awarded at all. And only later, in St. Louis (1904) and London (1908), future champions were honored with full-fledged gold metals.

Over the centuries, the design and weight of Olympic medals have changed many times. The organizers experimented not only with the shape of the awards (from the classically round to rectangular in Paris and oval in Stockholm, but also in size. In 1956, the thinnest medals were awarded in Stockholm (only 2.5 mm). For comparison, in 1992, the thickness of Barcelona medals reached almost 1 cm.

The British also managed to excel, whose medals were still the largest (8.5 cm in 2012) and the smallest (3.5 cm in 1908). But do not be confused by the size of the latter, because for IV Olympiad in 1908, medals of the highest dignity were made of pure gold. Weighing 72 grams each, the awards had a market value of $ 2,947 (£ 1,988).

Until recently, London's giant medals were not only the largest, but also the heaviest. The Royal Mint of Great Britain presented future champions with a whopping 412 grams of pure silver!

Despite weighing half a kilogram heavier, Brazilian gold medals will not surpass their British predecessors, which are still the most valuable prizes in recent years. It is also necessary to take into account the fact that at that time the cost of the metal was higher than today and amounted to a record $ 651 (£ 420) in recent years.

As you can imagine, it is almost impossible to calculate the exact composition of all the medals being played, therefore, as a standard, we used the following composition of medals for the London 2012 Olympics in our calculations:

• Gold medals contained 1.34% gold, 92.5% silver and 6.16% copper;
• Silver medals contained 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper;
• The bronze medals contained 97% copper, 2.5% zinc and 0.5% tin.

The total value of medals awarded throughout the history of the Games, at current spot prices, exceeds $ 2,488,801 (£ 1,675,957). On account of American athletes 2,403 medals, the total cost of which is $ 620,588 (£ 418,201).