A gold medal from the 1904 St. Louis Olympics, awarded to the 110-meter hurdles champion, is being auctioned as part of a collection featuring hundreds of Olympic memorabilia spanning decades, reports AP.
The medal, inscribed with "Olympiad, 1904," depicts a victorious athlete holding a wreath on one side and Nike, the ancient Greek goddess of victory, alongside Zeus on the other, with an engraving specifying the hurdles event. Awarded to American athlete Fred Schule, it comes with its original ribbon and leather case.
This marked the first Olympics where gold medals were introduced, with the U.S. dominating by winning 78 of 96 events. Unlike modern Olympic gold medals, which are primarily silver with gold plating, these were smaller and crafted entirely from gold.
Bobby Eaton, an Olympic memorabilia specialist at Boston-based RR Auction, highlighted the rarity of such medals, noting that few of the roughly 100 awarded in 1904 remain, as many have been lost or are held in private collections and museums.
The 1904 Games, remembered for both achievements and controversies, were initially set for Chicago but were moved to St. Louis after disputes with the World's Fair organizers, who threatened to hold their own competing athletic events. The marathon was marred by scandal when Fred Lorz, initially thought to be the winner, was found to have traveled part of the race by car. Additionally, "Anthropology Days" saw indigenous tribes competing without prior notice as part of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition.
The event also introduced boxing and freestyle wrestling to the Olympics, alongside now-defunct events like croquet and tug-of-war.
"These medals are more than symbols of competition; they represent the early days of the modern Olympics," Eaton remarked, describing the auction as a rare opportunity for collectors. —BSS