A podium 1st 2nd 3rd  for award ceremonies. The top step is for the winner, with a silver and bronze medal platform below it. Podiums are most commonly used for athletic events, but can be seen at amateur dramatics productions, spelling bees and musical performances. The top step of a sports podium is often draped in a flag of the country of the winner, and the names of the winners are announced at the end of the ceremony.

In the early days of the Olympic Games, podiums were designed to resemble the throne of Zeus, the Greek god of thunder and lightning. In 1920, Belgium’s Victor Bonin took the first Olympic athletes’ oath while standing on a podium in the Olympic Stadium.

Elevate Your Event: The Role of Stage Blocks in Professional Productions

The podiums were built of wood and were adorned with statues. In addition, they had a rail on which the athletes could place their hands and feet. The runner-up stood to the right of the podium and the third-place athlete was situated in front of the aforementioned rail.

Podium buildings are a popular construction type in the MENA region, particularly for commercial office space. While there are many ways to build a podium, the common configurations discussed in this article are intended to assist architects with successfully navigating the AMMR process through local building departments for multi-story podium projects under the 2012 or older editions of the International Building Code (IBC). The podium structure is typically concrete and the occupancies below it must be Type I construction; however, if an elevator shaft passes through the horizontal fire separation between the podium and the base building, the podium must be a 2-hour rated building as well.