Victory Peak: 2018 Sports Awards Made of Gold
Learn the hidden facts behind prestigious gold awards in sports
"The Golden Boot"
The Golden Boot or the Golden Shoe award is every footballer's dream.
Since 1982, the Golden Boot is presented by the European Sports Media in partnership with Adidas company awarding the top-rated goalscorer of UEFA league matches; others don’t stand a chance.
The Golden Boot has been awarded multiple times to the same footballers.
The list of distinguished team players who won multiple Golden Boots includes Lionel Messi - the first player to win the award three times, and Cristiano Ronaldo who was the first player to win it four times.
In-house Adidas designers are taking care of all the details, influencing the final design of the award, which has to be updated once a season.
Redesign generally doesn’t impact the initial weight of the award - 10 kg. Three layers of gold coating remain constant too.
"UEFA Champions League Cup"
UEFA Champions League Cup, also known as European Champion Clubs' Cup is the highest form of achievement for the winning football club. Over the course of 50 years the cup was modified five times.
New rules stipulate that the UEFA Champions League Cup award becomes the lawful property of the club who wins the competition five times or three years in a row.
The cup's foundation imitates the shape of amphora, with silver (on the outer surface) and a touch of gold inside.
The famous trophy was made by jeweler Jurg Stadelmann within a period of 340 hours.
The cup is 73,5 cm high and weighs 7,5 kg. The title-holding winning football club name is featured on the cup’s front.
"The FIFA World Cup"
Gold FIFA World Cup has been first introduced in 1974, awarding the winners of the 10th FIFA association football tournament.
It is made of 18K gold mixed with pure 92,5% sterling silver and a firm malachite that replaced lazurite. Back in a day, the gold cup has been frequently re-branded. Originally, it was named Victory (unofficially Golden Goddess), later on renamed in honor of the former FIFA president Jules Rimet.
Peculiarly enough, it was stolen in 1983 and was never discovered.
The metal base of the FIFA World Cup is made of actual gold. It is 36,5 cm tall, weighs 6,17 kg, whilst semi-precious stones and 18K gold makes up 4,9 kg of the total weight.
"Olympic gold medal"
By participating in the Olympics, the ancient Greeks didn’t have high hopes for valuable trophies of any kind. An olive wreath was the reward in its own right.
Despite the fact that nowadays the main Olympic award is composed of 1.2% of the gold, the coin-sized medal was made of solid gold and stripped of any industrial premises until 1912, namely in 1904 - Olympic Games in St. Louis, in 1908 - London Olympic Games, in 1912 - Stockholm Olympic Games.
Soon enough, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has drawn up specifications of requirements for Olympic medals and its proportions: the diameter has to be no less than 60 mm, a 3 mm-thick layer, weight - up to 500 grams.
An additional anchorage for the rope or chain is obligatory, just as listing the logo of the Olympic Games’ host country and classifying the sub-type of sports discipline.
