THE OLYMPIC MEDAL MARKET

At this year’s Tokyo Olympics, 339 medals will be awarded — the culmination of the athletes’ life’s work. Yet winning gold doesn’t necessarily guarantee a life of luxury.

After Greg Louganis captured double Olympic gold in Los Angeles in 1984 — a feat he repeated four years later in Seoul — he was acclaimed as possibly the greatest diver in history.

But financial woes, as he wrote in a Vox essay, left the champion facing foreclosure on his Malibu home. By 2012 things were so dire, he turned to Ingrid O’Neil.

She runs an eponymous auction house in Corona del Mar, Calif., specializing in Olympic memorabilia. Several years ago, Louganis’ partner called her, explaining that the diver wanted to sell some of his medals. He wanted $100,000 for each medal, she said. I told him I didn’t think I could sell them for that amount. Nowadays, though, I think it would be possible.

Louganis managed to sell his house rather than give up his gold, but it’s still shocking. While there are players’ unions for leagues such as the NFL and the NBA, it’s harder for most Olympic athletes once their competitive careers are over. Often, the medals they’ve won represent one of the few assets they can realize in their retirement.

The market is strong for Olympic medals when they come up for sale but it depends on a number of factors, such as the event, said John Millensted, head of the Coins & Medals department at Bonhams auction house. That said, it’s not often you get living athletes selling their medals. It tends to be the next of kin after the original recipient has passed away.

Hoops star Vin Baker (left) let his gold go for $67,643. Fellow 2000 Olympics star swimmer Anthony Ervin (right) sold his for $17,101.

Sometimes, even athletes from a high-profile sport such as basketball end up auctioning their gold medals — as has been the case with former Team USA players Vin Baker (Sydney 2000), Walter Davis (Montreal 1976) and Jerry Lucas (Rome 1960).

It’s unusual for basketball players to do it, but you can see why [some] sell them, said Robert Raiola, director of Sports & Entertainment Group at accounting firm PKF O’Connor Davies. The issue is, they don’t have a regular income and they spend so much time working on their craft that it’s almost inevitable that some struggle when their competing days come to an end.

(The United States Olympic and Para­lympic Committee [USOPC] pays athletes $37,500 for winning gold, $22,500 for silver and $15,000 for bronze.)

Olympians do occasionally unload their medals in the name of charity: US swimming champion Anthony Ervin auctioned his gold, from the 2000 Sydney games, in 2004 and donated the $17,101 to India tsunami victims.

To read the complete article, see:
Why some Olympic athletes have had to sell their gold medals (https://nypost.com/article/why-some-olympic-athletes-sell-their-medals/)

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