Believe it or not, Olympic gold medals have not always been awarded for sporting achievements.
At the 1932 Summer Games in Los Angeles, American Lee Blair proudly displayed his gold after winning in a different type of event: watercolors and drawing.
Blair, a Disney artist and animator, became an Olympic champion for his watercolor painting “Rodeo,” which had a strongly American theme.
Another American artist, Percy Crosby, took home the silver medal for his work ‘Jackknife’.
For the first four decades of the historic competition, Olympic officials awarded medals for both the arts and sports; previously sculpture, architecture, literature, painting and music, as well as watercolors and drawing, had all been represented as events.
The United States has a watercolor Olympic gold medal from the 1932 Games in Los Angeles to its name (pictured: artist Peter Spens paints the Eiffel Tower during this summer’s Paris Olympics)
Even diehard Olympic fans are just beginning to realize that competitors can win medals by displaying their artistic talent.
“Everyone I’ve talked to about this has been shocked,” says Richard Stanton, author of the 2002 book The Forgotten Olympic Art Competitions.
‘The first time I heard about it was while reading a history book, when I came across a little blurb about Olympic art competitions, and I asked myself: “What competitions?”
Stanton subsequently wrote the first (and so far only) book ever published in English on the subject.
The United States has won a total of nine Olympic medals in artistic competitions, as well as others in disciplines such as urban planning and graphic arts.
