1st Place: Silver
2nd Place: Bronze
they get it as a prize for winning the olympics.
Total of 1,782 athletes won medals at 2012 Olympics. With Michael Phelps winning the most medals (6).
302 events gave Gold Medals to the winning athletes
Thailand sent 37 athletes competing in 15 sports, winning two silver medals and one bronze.
Scottish athletes have won 9 medals.
Many people believe that athletes should in fact get paid for winning Olympic medals. This is because they trained very hard.
Because they can win medals!
The athletes are unpaid, minus the prize money they receive for winning medals. Outside of the Olympics the various athletes' professional annual salaries sum to over $9.
The 1st place athletes
Poland typically has many athletes at the Summer Olympics. In the most recent Olympics (2012), Poland sent 218 athletes and won a total of 10 medals.
USA with 36 medals
Finland had 55 athletes and competed in 13 sports and entered over 50 events winning a Silver and 2 Bronze Medals.