You know who decides? Dead dictionary people, that's who. Sit down, son, because I am about to go very Oxford English Dictionary on you. According to that fine institution of wordsmiths, "medalling," as in, winning a medal, goes back to at least 1822, when Lord Byron used the word as a verb in a letter.

Did I just medal in Olympic researching? Well, before I podium (that's apparently a verb too) let's keep going.

I'm confused about people saying NBC messed up the opening ceremonies. As long as I've watched the Olympics, they've always taken commercial breaks, so of course stuff is gonna get missed.
—Martini M, via Facebook