It is moreover required that every athlete and all persons who participate in an official capacity shall be awarded a commemoration medal. The number of artists whose services were enlisted for this work was intentionally limited, and among the 15 invited to compete there was not one who had not performed similar tasks in a completely satisfactory manner. The prize was awarded to the Berlin sculptor, Otto Placzek, his design revealing on one side five athletes representing the different continents, all of whom are engaged in pulling the rope of the Olympic Bell. The reverse side of the medal contained the Olympic Bell in relief. Bronze was selected as the appropriate metal for this medal, and the required number of 20,000 were cast by four Berlin foundries, Heintze & Barth, Sperlich, Noack & Martin, and Pilzing. Otto Placzek was also entrusted with the designing of the other medals issued by the Organizing Committee. These included the commemoration medal for the participants in the aeroplane, automobile and bicycle rallies as well as the medal for the carrier pigeon breeders who offered their birds for the festivities of the opening day. The artist utilized a uniform design for the reverse side of all these medals, the Olympic Bell, as the symbol of the Berlin Games, while the face revealed in each case the individual significance of the medal.

(Source document:   Official Report 1936, Vol. I, page 125)