The First Olympic Gold Medal was Made of Silver - Apparently.
The first Olympic gold medal, awarded at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, was actually made of solid silver. The medal was designed by French sculptor Jules-Clément Chaplain and weighed 138 grams. The Olympic Games were revived that year after a 64-year hiatus, and the medal was presented to winner James Connolly, an American athlete, for his victory in the triple jump event.