the worlds first olympic medals were handed out. Where were the athletes to win the first gold silver and bronze olympic medals from?

I think that the first gold medal winner shares a nationality with you and a university with me.

So they were British then.

Did the first few olympics not have any medals, then? What did athletes compete for? Wreaths?

I don't know. The first three olympic medals were awarded to Irish born athletes, who came first second and third in the Hammer. Two were representing the US and one was representing canada. The guy who won, Flannagan was 40 years old, and the guy who came second, McGrath won the gold in 1912 by such a margin that his worst of six throws was still fifteen feet further than the next best throw in the competition. Given that pat O callaghan from clonmel won the hammer in 1928 and 1932 Irish people must have developed quite a reputation back in the day for throwing hammers or something.

An Irish guy also won not only the Discus, but the classical discus (you threw it from a pedestal like you were a statue). In all Irish born people won 11 medals which only goes to show what you can achieve when you exclude pretty much everyone on earth from taking part.

Given that our last two medal successes have been horribly tainted by drug abuse (and one of them was a horse) we really have to wonder where is Ireland's next medal going to come from, and will we win it in my lifetime?

I would suspect thought that it is more likely that the Irish athletic club of New York is more likely to become the top athletics club in the world again than us winning 11 medals at an olympics.

There's always Mary Peters.

I know wiki is not the most authorative of information sources, but it does suggest that no less than the England cricket team (though not the proper test side) won medals in 1900...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricket_at_the_1900_Summer_Olympics

So, whose right here?

The IOC site says Gold, silver and bronze medals were first given out in 1904.

As England only got a silver medal for winning the cricket in 1900 that wouldn't pre-empt the Irish hammer throwers.