Previous winners have come from several sports.
In 2004 it went to Brazilian runner Vanderlei de Lima who was in the middle of the marathon race when a protester jumped onto the track and held him back. He was leading but instead won bronze. Since he was denied the gold medal opportunity, he won the prestigious prize.
Other winners include Lawrence Lemieux, a Canadian who abandoned his boat during the sailing competition to save two other capsized sailors in 1988. Perhaps the most powerful bestowal was in 1936 at the Olympics in Berlin. A German long jumper, Luz Long, congratulated a black American long jumper, Jesse Owens.
Long was awarded his medal posthumously after he advised Owens during a competition watched by German leader Adolf Hitler.
Owens had failed his first two qualifying jumps and was in danger of going out, before Long told him to simply jump from a couple of inches behind the take-off board.
The idea worked and Owens went on to win gold.
He said: "It took a lot of courage for him to befriend me in front of Hitler. You can melt down all the medals and cups I have and they wouldn't be a plating on the 24 carat friendship that I felt for Lutz Long at that moment."
The medal was inaugurated in 1964 and 16 of the 17 winners have been men. About half have been awarded to Winter Olympics competitors.
