trophy

A trophy is a tangible, decorative item used to remind of a specific achievement, serving as recognition or evidence of merit. Trophies are most commonly awarded for sporting events, ranging from youth sports to professional level athletics. Additionally, trophies are presented for achievements in Academic, Arts and Entertainment, Business, Military, Professional awards, Community Service, Hunting, and Environmental accomplishments. In many contexts, especially in sports, medals (or, in North America, rings) are often given out either as the trophy or along with more traditional trophies.

Originally the word trophy, derived from the Greek '' tropaion'', referred to arms, standards, other property, or human captives and body parts (e.g., headhunting) captured in battle. These war trophies commemorated the military victories of a state, army or individual combatant. In modern warfare trophy taking is discouraged, but this sense of the word is reflected in hunting trophies and human trophy collecting by serial killers.

Etymology

Trophies have marked victories since ancient times. The word ''trophy'', coined in English in 1550, was derived from the French ''trophée'' in 1513, "a prize of war", from Old French ''trophee'', from Latin ''trophaeum'', monument to victory, variant of ''tropaeum'', which in turn is the latinisation of the Greek τρόπαιον ('' tropaion''), the neuter of τροπαῖος (''tropaios''), "of defeat" or "for defeat", but generally "of a turning" or "of a change", from τροπή (''tropē''), "a turn, a change" and that from the verb τρέπω (''trepo''), "to turn, to alter".

In ancient Greece, trophies were made on the battlefields of victorious battles, from captured arms and standards, and were hung upon a tree or a large stake made to resemble a warrior. Often, these ancient trophies were inscribed with a story of the battle and were dedicated to various gods. Trophies made about naval victories sometimes consisted of entire ships (or what remained of them) laid out on the beach. To destroy a trophy was considered a sacrilege.

The ancient Romans kept their trophies closer to home. The Romans built magnificent trophies in Rome, including columns and arches atop a foundation. Most of the stone trophies that once adorned huge stone memorials in Rome have been long since stolen.

History

In ancient Greece, the winners of the Olympic games initially received no trophies except laurel wreaths. Later the winner also received an amphora with sacred olive oil. In local games, the winners received different trophies, such as a tripod vase, a bronze shield or a silver cup.

In ancient Rome, money usually was given to winners instead of trophies.

Chalices were given to winners of sporting events at least as early as the very late 1600s in the New World. For example, the Kyp Cup (made by silversmith Jesse Kyp), a small, two-handled, sterling cup in the Henry Ford Museum, was given to the winner of a horse race between two towns in New England in about 1699. Chalices, particularly, are associated with sporting events, and were traditionally made in silver. Winners of horse races, and later boating and early automobile races, were the typical recipients of these trophies. The Davis Cup, Stanley Cup, America's Cup and numerous World Cups are all now famous cup-shaped trophies given to sports winners.

Today, the most common trophies are much less expensive, and thus much more pervasive, thanks to mass-produced plastic/resin trophies.

The oldest sports trophies in the world are the Carlisle Bells, a horse racing trophy dating back to 1559 and 1599 and were first awarded by Elizabeth I. The race has been run for over 400 years in Carlisle, Cumbria, United Kingdom. The bells are on show at the local museum, Tullie House, which houses a variety of historic artifacts from the area from Roman legions to present day.

Types

Contemporary trophies often depict an aspect of the event commemorated, for example in basketball tournaments, the trophy takes the shape of a basketball player, or a basketball. Trophies have been in the past objects of use such as two-handled cups, bowls, or mugs (all usually engraved); or representations such as statues of people, animals, and architecture while displaying words, numbers or images. While trophies traditionally have been made with metal figures, wood columns, and wood bases, in recent years they have been made with plastic figures and marble bases. This is to retain the weight traditionally associated with a quality award and make them more affordable to use as recognition items. Trophies increasingly have used resin depictions.

The Academy Awards Oscar is a trophy with a stylized human; the Hugo Award for science fiction is a space ship; and the Wimbledon awards for its singles champions are a large loving cup for men and a large silver plate for women. Some motor races such as the Monaco Grand Prix use stylized depictions of the track layout for its trophy.

A loving-cup trophy is a common variety of trophy; it is a cup shape, usually on a pedestal, with two or more handles, and is often made from silver or silver plate.

Hunting trophies are reminders of successes from hunting animals, such as an animal's head mounted to be hung on a wall. These can be examples of taxidermy, where the full animal is stuffed; and put out for show.

Perpetual trophies are held by the winner until the next event, when the winner must compete again in order to keep the trophy. In some competitions winners of a certain number of consecutive or non-consecutive events receive the trophy or its copy in permanent ownership. This was particularly common in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and led to the discontinuation of many trophy events when the trophy was won permanently and the event organizers could not or would not purchase a new one.

Sporting

Trophies have been awarded for team, or individual accomplishments in sports. Many combat sports, such as boxing, mixed martial arts, and professional wrestling use championship belts as trophies; however, unlike most of the trophies mentioned below, a new one is not created every time a new champion is crowned; rather, the new champion takes the belt from the old one.

Association football

Trophies in the sport include:

* Copa Libertadores Trophy — Known simply as ''Libertadores'' or ''Copa'', awarded to the winners of the Copa Libertadores since 1960. It is one of the most prestigious laurels in the Western Hemisphere.
*The FA Cup — Awarded to winners of the primary English domestic football knockout tournament, officially ''The Football Association Challenge Cup'', often referred to as just the ''FA Cup''. The FA Cup was inaugurated in 1871 and is therefore the oldest tournament in club football. The original trophy, however, was stolen in 1895 and the current trophy design, which was first awarded in 1911, is actually the fifth incarnation in total.
* The Women's FA Cup – Awarded to winners of the primary English women's domestic football knockout tournament. Inaugurated in 1971, it was one of the first prestigious trophies to be made by the Thomas Lyte silver workshop.
* FIFA World Cup Trophy — Awarded to the winners of the FIFA World Cup from the 1974 FIFA World Cup onwards. Previous winners were awarded the Jules Rimet Trophy (known simply as ''Victory'' until 1949), which was awarded in perpetuity to Brazil after their 3rd win in the 1970 FIFA World Cup. Both are referred to colloquially as ''the World Cup''
* FIFA Women's World Cup Winner's Trophy – Awarded to the winners of the FIFA Women's World Cup from the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup onwards. Unlike the men's World Cup trophy, the women's trophy is constructed anew for each champion to keep.
Henri Delaunay Trophy - Awarded to the winners of the UEFA European Championship from the 1960 European Nations' Cup onwards. The original trophy design was used till UEFA Euro 2004. From UEFA Euro 2008 onwards, the trophy design was changed to make it bigger and heavier than the original as the old trophy was overshadowed by UEFA's other trophies namely the European Champion Clubs' Cup.
*European Champion Clubs' Cup – colloquially ''the European Cup'', awarded to the winners of the European Cup (before 1992–93) and the UEFA Champions League (since 1992–93). It is the most prestigious trophy in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is affectionately known as "old big ears" due to its shape.
* Philip F. Anschutz Trophy – Awarded to the winners of the MLS Cup, the MLS' championship game
*UEFA Super Cup — Awarded to the winners of a one-off match between the winners of the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League.
*The Scottish Cup

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