Rugby union at the 1908 Summer Olympics Rugby union at the 1908 Summer Olympics Rugby union at the 1908 Summer Olympics. The event was summarised under the "Football" heading along with association football. The host Great Britain was represented by Cornwall, the 1908 county champion. Defending Olympic champions France withdrew, leaving Australasia, represented by the Australia national rugby union team as the only other remaining entrant. The visiting team competed in the London Olympics in conjunction with the inaugural Wallaby tour of the United Kingdom of 1908-09, in which they would ultimately go 25-5-1 in their 31 matches. The Australian team entered the rugby tournament and were
Olympic medal Paris Mint, which also made the medals for the 1900 Olympic Games, hosted by Paris. This started the tradition of giving the responsibility of minting the medals to the host city. For the next few Olympiads the host city also chose the medal design. Until 1912 the gold medals were made of solid gold. In 1923 the International Olympic Committee (IOC) launched a competition for sculptors to design the medals for the Summer Olympic Games. Giuseppe Cassioli's "Trionfo" design was chosen as the winner in 1928. The obverse brought back Nike but this time as the main focus, holding a