bronze medal
Illustration — A bronze medal from the 1980 Summer Olympics • Illustration — The bronze commemorative Medal of John VIII Palaeologus by Pisanello (1438), made in various metals, but usually in bronze A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives a gold medal and the second place a silver medal. More generally, bronze is traditionally the most common metal used for all types of high-quality medals, including artistic ones.
bronze medal

Friedrich Brehmer · Medaillenhandlung Annette Hoßfeld über das Portal ma-shops-com · Public domain
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- award medal · third place
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- bronze
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Illustration — A bronze medal from the 1980 Summer Olympics • Illustration — The bronze commemorative Medal of John VIII Palaeologus by Pisanello (1438), made in various metals, but usually in bronze A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives a gold medal and the second place a silver medal. More generally, bronze is traditionally the most common metal used for all types of high-quality medals, including artistic ones.
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Broader Term · incoming
Bronze Medal of Military Valour
Term

Awarded · incoming
Charles Soubre
Artist
Own work , FREREMORPHEUS , 2008-12-30
Awarded · incoming
Émile Vernier
Engraver
Own work

Awarded · incoming
Louis Béroud
Artist
https://archive.org/stream/nospeintresetscu00mart#page/46/mode/2up

Awarded · incoming
Paul-François Choppin
Artist
https://deafhistory.eu/index.php/component/zoo/item/paul-francois-choppin
Documentary evidence
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wikipedia incomplete · checked 25 September 2026
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wikidata · Q873364 · wikipedia · Bronze medal
In this article
Olympic Games
Olympic Games
The practice of awarding bronze third place medals in the Olympic Games began at the 1904 Olympic Games in St. Louis, Missouri, before which only first and second places were awarded.
Minting Olympic medals is the responsibility of the host city. From 1928–1968 the design was always the same: the obverse showed a generic design by Florentine artist Giuseppe Cassioli with text giving the host city; the reverse showed another generic design of an Olympic champion. From 1972–2000, Cassioli's design (or a slight reworking) remained on the obverse with a custom design by the host city on the reverse. Noting that Cassioli's design showed a Roman amphitheatre for what was originally a Greek game, a new obverse design was commissioned for the Athens 2004 Games. Winter Olympics medals have been of more varied design. In a few tournament sports, such as boxing, judo, taekwondo and wrestling, two bronze medals are awarded in each event – one for each eliminated semi-finalist or for the winners of the repechage brackets.
Psychological study
Psychological study
In 1995, a study was carried out by social psychologists Victoria Medvec, Scott Madey and Thomas Gilovich on the effects of counterfactual thinking on the Olympics. The study showed that athletes who won the bronze medal were significantly happier with their winning than those athletes who won the silver medal. The silver medalists were more frustrated because they had missed the gold medal, while the bronze medalists were simply happy to have received any honors at all (instead of no medal for fourth place). This is more pronounced in knockout competitions, where the bronze medals are achieved by winning a third place playoff, whereas silver medals are awarded after a defeat in the final. This psychological phenomenon was parodied in the Jerry Seinfeld special I'm Telling You for the Last Time.

Von dem Medailleur Friedrich Brehmer in Bronze geprägte Medaille auf das 25jährige Dienstjubiläum von Pastor Hermann Wilhelm Bödeker in der Kirchengemeinde der Kirche St. Jacobi et Georgi (Marktkirche) in Hannover; hier der Revers mit den Hinweisen auf die Tätigkeiten des
Friedrich Brehmer · Medaillenhandlung Annette Hoßfeld über das Portal ma-shops-com

Avers der von dem Medailleur Johann Georg Fritz geschnittenen Bronzemedaille zur 1837 in Hannover organisierten Ausstellung, hier die mit der um einen Eichenkranz in Großbuchstaben geprägten Umschrift „ GEWERBE-VEREIN FÜR DAS KÖNIGREICH HANNOVER “ im Feld die eingravierten Verleihungs-Hinweise auf „WIECKING IN BRAMSCHE “ Die Medaille hat einen Durchmesser von 52 mm...
Johann Georg Fritz · M M GmbH über ebay https: curr=USD
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reference work
- “Bronze medal”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
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authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q873364: bronze medal
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1- Charles SoubreArtist
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Medals
1,069 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Bronze CrossTerminology
- Bronze Cross MedalTerminology
- Bronze Cross of RhodesiaTerminology
- Bronze LionTerminology
- Bronze Medal for MeritTerminology
- Bronze Medal of Military ValourTerminology
- Bronze Service MedalTerminology
- Bronze Star MedalTerminology
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