🥇 1. An Olympic medal... melted into a tooth!
In 2016, Mark Cavendish , the famous British cyclist, revealed that one of his medals had been accidentally melted in a domestic accident. It was placed too close to a radiator, and some of the metal literally became embedded… in a tooth he had just had repaired with a temporary crown!
👉 Since then, he calls it his "dental medal".
🎖️ 2. The medal won… by cheating with a fake name
At the 1904 Olympic Games in St. Louis, an American runner named Fred Lorz crossed the marathon finish line first… but he had traveled halfway through the race by car !
Caught in the act, he tried to claim it was a joke. The medal was withdrawn, and a scandal was narrowly avoided.
🐶 3. The military medal... awarded to a dog
Sergeant Stubby , the dog mascot of the U.S. Army during World War I, received a medal for bravery after saving soldiers from a gas attack.
👉 He is the only dog to have been promoted to the rank of sergeant higher than his human officers .
💍 4. A medal recycled into an engagement ring
In 1952, an Austrian figure skater turned his Olympic silver medal into an engagement ring to propose to his partner.
💌 She said yes, of course — it's hard to get more symbolic than that.
🧻 5. A medal made of... toilet paper!
In 2020, at the height of the COVID-related toilet paper shortage, a British running club held a virtual race, and the medals awarded to the winners were made of… empty toilet paper rolls, spray-painted gold !
👉 Pure gold… sarcasm !
