Medal, plus gold have made our society progressive. Nowadays, in all competition, medal will be given to the first winner who will receive medal as well as gold.
For example, we can see Olympic game in every four years and many sports men and women of all countries in the world will join competition in every kind of sports in order to get gold medal for the honour of their own country.
If the sport men can achieve first name in the Olympic game, he will be a famous person in the world, and, of course, wealth will follow him after success.
Oscar Prize in the movie competition in the Hollywood will be the same. The winner of Oscar shall be known to the world and he or she shall have a high position in the performance of all films.
Medal in the army is particularly important. If the officer or soldier can still be alive after a battle, he will surely get high reward, not only in terms of money, but a high rank of position will be offered to him.
In this world, in any competition, medal is the first importance to encourage people to get forward to express a good performance in order to win a first place.