Believe it or not, Olympic gold medals were not always awarded for athletic achievement.
At the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, American Lee Blair proudly showed off his gold medal after winning another event: watercolors and drawings.
Blair, an artist and Disney animator, became an Olympic champion with his watercolor painting “Rodeo,” which had a strong American theme.
Another American artist, Percy Crosby, won the silver medal for his ‘Jackknife’ work.
During the first forty years of this historic competition, Olympic officials awarded medals for both art and sport. Previously, sculpture, architecture, literature, painting and music had been included as part of events, as had watercolors and drawings.
The US has an Olympic gold medal in watercolors to its name from the 1932 Games in LA (Pictured: Artist Peter Spens painting the Eiffel Tower during the Paris Olympics this summer)
Even the most ardent Olympic fans are only now beginning to realize that participants can win medals by displaying their artistic talent.
“Everyone I talked to about it was surprised,” says Richard Stanton, author of the 2002 book The Forgotten Olympic Art Competitions.
‘I first found out about it when I was reading a history book and came across a little comment about Olympic art competitions. I immediately thought, “What competitions?”‘
Stanton subsequently wrote the first—and still the only—English-language book ever published on the subject.
The United States has won a total of nine Olympic medals in artistic competitions, as well as in disciplines such as urban planning and graphic work.