The 1924 Summer Games silver winners medal presented to one of the very first African-Americans to ever compete in the Olympics, runner Richard Earl Johnson. Medal is approximately 55mm in diameter and weighs approximately 76 grams. The winners medal was struck by the Paris mint, was designed by Andre Rivaud, and is stamped along the edge “2Argent.” One side of the medal features a winning athlete helping up his defeated foe and the artist’s signature along the bottom, with the reverse having a raised relief of various pieces of sporting equipment, with the artist’s initials below them, and “VIII eme Olympiade Paris 1924,” in raised letters. In extra fine plus condition.
African-American trailblazer Johnson was the first finisher in the team event, finishing third behind the legendary Paavo Nurmi and Ville Ritola, with his teammates Arthur Studenroth and August Fager finishing fifth and sixth respectively. This winners medal represents the most prestigious award of Earl Johnson’s Olympic career, the first nationally prominent African-American runner.
