... and every level of competition in which I have ever competed (high school, college, open road racing, etc.) has used gold, silver and bronze medals.

I also wrestled in high school and college and many wrestling events in which I competed used the same three medals.

I was president of a table top gaming club for years in the 1970's and '80's. We gave out gold, silver and bronze medals to the top three finishers of our gaming (not gambling! ) tournaments.

Pacific Bell give out awards every year to their best suppliers. The awards are designated Gold, Silver and Bronze (albeit they are actually crystal with engraving filled with the appropriate color).

I suspect that many other athletic competitions at nearly every level of ability use the gold, silver and bronze designations for their award winners.

I'm not a trademark/copyright specialist, but I also think it is a copyright or trademark violation only if used for commercial purposes. I'll ask my son (an intellectual property lawyer) what he thinks about that.

----- jim o\-S