Rare winner’s medal issued for the Paris 1900 Olympics. Gilt silver, 56 gm, 38 mm x 57 mm, 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, “Championnat de Gymnastique,” and depicts a victorious athlete upon a podium with a stadium and the Acropolis in the background. Stamped “Argent” on an edge. The medal bears very faint rubbing to gilt.
Exclusive to men, the gymnastics event consisted of 16 exercises, many of them being two competitions of the same discipline, and included a number of athletics events and a weightlifting competition. In the end, the three top prizes were taken by French athletes, a group that dominated the field with 108 of the 135 competing athletes. A highly attractive and exceptionally rare first-place winner's medal from the second Olympiad.
