Over the course of the first 40 years of the modern Olympic Games, at least 150 medals were awarded to participants in the categories/competitions of sculptures, painting, literature, music, and (yes) architecture. After he resurrected the modern games after the demise of the original Olympic games and establishing the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Baron Pierre de Coubertin opined and strongly supported the stance that art be an important part of the competition. To be in medal contention however, every submission in those varied artistic field were REQUIRED to be sports-related.
In the 1920s, the arts competitions in the Games evolved, the organizers added new subdivisions the aforementioned five categories:
- “Sculpture” was divided into “Statues” and “Reliefs and Medallions”
- “Painting” added “Drawing” and “Graphic Works”
- “Literature” was also divided into “Lyric Works,” “Epic Works” and “Dramatic Works”
- “Music” became three categories, “Song,” “Orchestra” and “Single Instrument”
- “Architecture” added “Town Planning”
