For the 2004 film directed by Yann Moix, see Podium (film).

A podium is a platform that is used to raise something to a short distance above its surroundings. In architecture a building can rest on a large podium. Podiums can also be used to raise people, for instance the conductor of an orchestra stands on a podium as do many public speakers. Additionally, podium has commonly come to mean the object a speaker stands behind, even when it is at floor level, though the proper term for that item is a lectern.

One common type of podium is that used to honour medalists in sporting events such as the Olympics. In the Olympics a three level podium is used, the highest level in the centre holds the gold medalist, to their right is a somewhat lower one for the silver medalist. To the left of the gold medalist is an even lower platform for the bronze medalist. Some sports, most notably rowing shun podiums, and the symbolism they represent.

First Use of Podiums at Olympics

---

According to Professor Emeritus Robert K. Barney, the University of Western Ontario's founding director of Western's International Centre for Olympic Studies, the idea of having winning athletes mount a podium while they received their medals, is a Canadian idea born in Hamilton, Ontario in 1930.

Professor Barney's 25-page research paper in the International Journal of Olympic Studies indicates that podiums were first used at the 1930 British Empire Games (now Commonwealth Games) in Hamilton and were subsequently used during the 1932 Olympics Summer Games in Los Angeles and Winter Games in Lake Placid.

External links

---

• Podiums first used in modern Olympics

Architectural elements

Podium | Podium | Podium