It all  started in the  beginning of the 17th century in   the city  of Chester, England. The mayor  decided  to give  a  thophy  to  the winner of a horse race. Therefore, he asked a  silversmith  to make a silver  trophy. The silversmith worked very hard but when the trophy was finished, the mayor  said it was unacceptable and asked him to make  another  one. The second  trophy was also unsastisfactory. The mayor finally accepted the third trophy. But  then he had three silver trophies instead of one. Since he didn't  want  to be  wasteful, he decided to award trophies to the frist three winners and called them first, second and third place. Everybody like the idea and it became a tradition.
Nowadays  is most competitions awards are given to the first three places: bronze to the third, silver to the second, and gold to the best.

Back