OLYMPIANS SELLING MEDALS

 
Swimmer Ryan Lochte

It's a long fall from the Olympic podium to financial ruin — but it's not an uncommon path. Some of the golden girls and guys that nabbed medals, headlines and hearts years ago are now strapped for cash, selling their medals and even their bodies for money.

"People spend the better part of a decade trying to make an Olympic game or two. And when they finally decide to hang it up, they are behind their friends who entered the workforce a decade ago," Tom Jackovic, CEO of the USA Track and Field Foundation, told The Post. "It's always a struggle."

Ryan Lochte competed in four summer games — 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016 — and became one of the most decorated swimmers in Olympic history, winning six gold medals, three silver and three bronze.

But, last month, the 41-year-old sold three of his golds at auction for a combined $385,520. He defended the move to fans on Instagram.

"I never swam for the gold medals," he wrote on Instagram. "They were just the cherry on top of an incredible journey."

The sale would seem to just be the latest troubled chapter for Lochte. In 2019, he told CNBC that he'd gone from making "well over $1 million" per year to just $75,000 from one sponsor and was living paycheck to paycheck.

In 2022, he sold his silver and bronze medals for $122,000. Last year, amidst his divorce from wife Kayla Reid, it was revealed that the couple were nearly $270,000 in debt.

Olympic diver Greg Louganis can relate. In 2025, he revealed that he had sold three of his five medals — two golds and one silver — for $437,000. He also said he'd sold his house because he "needed the money" and was moving to Panama.

"If I had proper management, I might not have been in that position," Louganis, considered by many to be the greatest diver of all time, said.

To read the complete article, see:
Hard-up Olympians selling medals — and their bodies — and living in their cars to make ends meet (https://nypost.com/2026/02/02/sports/hard-up-olympians-selling-medals-and-their-bodies/)

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