Olympic medal began in 1896 medals started to be given to successful olympian competitors. However, gold medals were not awarded at the inaugural Olympics in 1896 in Athens, Greece. The winners were instead given a silver medal and an olive branch, while runners-up received a laurel branch and a copper or bronze medal. In 1900, most winners received cups or trophies instead of medals. The custom of the sequence of gold, silver, and bronze for the first three places dates from the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis, Missouri in the United States. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has retroactively assigned gold,
1896 Summer Olympics medal table article. 1896 Summer Olympics medal table The 1896 Summer Olympics medal count is a list of National Olympic Committees ranked by the number of medals won during the 1896 Summer Olympics—the first Olympic Games of the Modern era—held in Athens, Greece, from 6 to 15 April 1896. A total of 241 athletes from 14 nations participated in 43 events in nine sports at these games. Ten of the fourteen participating nations earned medals, in addition to three medals won by mixed teams, i.e. teams made up of athletes from multiple nations. The United States won the most gold medals (11)