THE BRONZE

Why isn't there anything after the bronze medal? You've got your gold for first, silver second, bronze third - but it just tails off there. Would it be so hard to give a medal to the guy who got fourth place? He did almost as much training as the first three guys; there are, like, three people in the whole world who are faster than him - isn't that worth a little recognition?

I don't really see where the medals are coming from, anyway. Gold for first is fine, because it is a rare, highly prized metal to represent the rare, highly prized individual who leaps hurdles or swims lengths a tenth of a second quicker than some other guys. Silver, for similar reasons, I guess - still highly prized, still plenty rare.

But bronze?! Bronze is just an alloy, copper and tin. None of this is very rare. I mean, there was a whole Age named after Bronze, it's so common. What is this medal telling the third quickest sprinter on the planet?

"Gold, silver - they're rare. You, bronze guy? You're everywhere. Two a penny, my friend. It'll be a cold day in Hell when we call on your running services."

There are plenty of other alloys out there. What about giving the guy who came in fourth place, I dunno, a steel medal. At least he managed to find the stadium.