Winner’s medal issued for the Paris 1900 Summer Olympics. Silvered bronze, 42 mm x 60 mm, 56 gm, by Frederic Vernon, Paris. The front, inscribed “Republique Francaise, Exposition Universelle, Paris 1900,” features a winged goddess scattering laurels over the grounds of the Exposition; the reverse identifies the sport as gymnastics, “XXVI me Fête Fédérale de Gymnastique,” and depicts a victorious athlete upon a podium with a stadium and the Acropolis in the background. Stamped “Bronze” on an edge. Some light rubbing to silver finish.
Held between July 29 and 30, 1900, the Fete Federale gymnastics event consisted of 16 exercises, with each exercise capable of earning the participant a maximum of 20 points, and a possible total maximum score of 320 points. The events were mostly gymnastic in nature—parallel bars, rings, floor exercise, and so on—but also included a number of athletics events and a weightlifting competition.
