Winner's medal awarded to American shooter Lt. Col. Louis J. Harant at the Antwerp 1920 Olympics. Gilt silver, 60 mm, 87 gm, by Josue Dupon. The front shows a victorious athlete holding a laurel wreath and palm branch, with a statue of Renommee in the background, inscribed "VII Olympiade"; the reverse depicts the Brabo fountain above the Antwerp shield, with the Cathedral of Our Lady and city looming in the background, inscribed above, "Anvers MCMXX." The bottom edge is stamped “A” for Argent, and a pin has been soldered neatly to the top edge for display purposes. Accompanied by a contemporary replacement medal case.
Louis Harant (1895–1986) was a 35-year veteran of the United States Army who holds the distinction of having served in the Mexican Border War, World War I, and World War II. After WWI, Harant served in the Army of German Occupation, where he performed as an instructor in machine gun, rifle, and pistol marksmanship with the 5th Machine Gun Battalion in Weitersburg, and the 17th Field Artillery Regiment at Fort Ehrenbreitstein. In the summer of 1919, he participated as a member of the U.S. Rifle and Pistol Team in the Inter-Allied Competitions, a precursor to the 1920 Summer Games that were held on the outskirts of Paris, France. The Americans swept all four shooting events.
By this point, Harant had proven himself to be one of the most skilled shooters in the entire United States Army. This stature led to his selection for the U.S. shooting team, which was assembled to compete at the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium. On August 3, 1920, Harant competed in both the individual 30-meter military pistol event and the 30-meter team rapid fire pistol event. Although he struggled in the former, ultimately placing fourth, he excelled in the team event, which was won convincingly by the Americans, a five-man squad of elite marksmen that was led by Harant’s team-leading 268 points.
The winner’s medal is accompanied by a dozen medals and decorations from Harant’s legendary military and shooting career, which includes his Purple Heart, a Mexican Border War Medal, two 23rd Infantry badges (1921 and 1922), a WWI 2nd Division Regulars medal, a WWII Freedom medal, a WWII National Defense medal, a 23rd Infantry Distinguished Pistol Shot badge (1921), a Seagirt/NJSRA (New Jersey State Rifle Association) ‘Ninety Per Cent Competitor’ badge, a 10K top prize Adjutant Generals Match medal (110th Field Artillery), and Harant’s two first-place bronze medals from the 1919 Inter-Allied Games for Team Pistol Shooting.
Hosting the Olympics in 1920 was a challenging endeavor so close to the end of the war. Because of financing problems for the Games, many shortcuts had to be taken; one of them was reducing the amount of gold plating on the first-place winner’s medals. Unfortunately, most of the gilding wore off almost immediately, and, as is often the case, many of the medals appear almost silver.
A total of 29 nations attended the VII Olympiad in Antwerp, Belgium, with Hungary, Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire all banned from competing due to their involvement in World War I and the cancellation of the 1916 Games. Despite such political unrest, the return of the Games debuted a trinity of enduring Olympic traditions—the voicing of the Olympic Oath, the symbolic release of doves, and the initial flying of the Olympic flag.
