Bronze medals for third place first started being awarded in 1904 at the Olympics in St. Louis.  Before then, only first and second places were awarded.  Before 1904, we didn’t praise losers.

The first Olympics were the 1896 Summer Games in Athens, Greece.  The event was organized by Pierre de Coubertin, a French aristocrat and historian. I found this interesting and hilarious:  Hungarian Alfred Hajos was the first Olympic champion in swimming, AND he later became the first of two Olympians to win a medal in both athletic and artistic competition.  Yes, Hajos won the silver medal in architecture in 1924.  I kid you not.  Between 1912 and 1948, there were sport-inspired art competitions in five categories: architecture, literature, music, painting, and sculpture.   Luckily the art contests were abandoned before the Olympics were widely televised because we wouldn’t have TiVo to fast-forward through 75 hours of a guy writing a book.