This Olympic medal is worth $1.4 million

In the ancient Olympics, the Greeks competed for a crown made of living olive branches, but more importantly, the achievement and acclaim of being the best of the best. Our modern Olympians are not so different. Believe it or not, the 2024 bronze medal is worth about as much as a box of Pop-Tarts! Don’t trade that medal for a snack just yet, because it could be worth more than a million dollars one day.

24/7 Wall St. Perspectives

• Collapse value of 2024 Olympic medals ranges from $5 to $1,000
• Medals can be worth much more at auction when they are connected to a notable person or event, such as a world record holder or historic political situation.
• The most valuable Olympic gold medal ever sold was $1.4 million.
• Also: 2 Dividend Legends to Keep Forever

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Some of the most difficult, time-consuming, and rewarding things in our lives have no monetary value.

Investing in Olympic memorabilia can be profitable for those who know what to look for. You could apply some of these examples to identify not only valuable Olympic medals, which are rarely for sale, but also other items, such as uniforms or other athletic equipment, that you might have a chance to bid on.

You may also notice that things often become valuable because of the story behind them. If the person who owned them was remarkable, the events were historic, and something about it touches the heart, then buyers are more likely to want it.

On a philosophical level, you can consider how some of the things you put effort into in life, like learning a musical instrument, writing a novel, or your own athletic achievements, may not make money for you, but are still worth it. the investment of time and energy because of the intangible benefits they bring. And you might also want to write or tell your children the stories about your meaningful things so that they see those things as valuable, too.

What are Olympic medals really worth?

These are the 2024 Olympic medals.

An Olympic medal is kind of like a wedding ring. The actual metal isn’t worth that much, but its symbolism and connection to a life-changing event is priceless.

There is a new medal design for each Olympics that has some connection to the host city. For the Paris Olympics, the gold and silver medals have a center piece of iron salvaged from the remodeling of the Eiffel Tower, with clips that look like the rivets that stud the tower. The gold medal is made of 92% silver with only 6 grams of 24k gold plating.

Olympic gold medals are worth about $1,000, silver medals are about $500, and bronze medals are only about $5. If that sounds cheap, remember that everyone who finished less than third got the nod!

How do Olympians earn?

Nicknamed “The Flying Tomato” because of his red hair, Shaun White became a multi-millionaire through product endorsements.

Sponsorships and product endorsements are the main ways Olympic athletes can earn money after the Games are over, as well as speaking engagements, coaching other elite athletes, writing books or even film rights to their story.

• Swimmer Michael Phelps won a total of 28 Olympic medals (23 of them gold) and broke 39 world records. His net worth today is over $100 million through deals with brands like Visa, Under Armor and Subway.
• Snowboarder and skateboarder Shuan White is a three-time gold medalist with $68 million in deals from Red Bull, Target, Ubisoft, Burton Snowboards and more.

Only 5% of Olympic athletes achieve this level of financial success, however, while the rest have to find jobs just like the rest of us. That means Olympic medals are sold from time to time when an athlete falls on hard times or when their descendants decide to cash in. And sometimes that cash-in is huge. Here are some examples.

5. Leuris Pupo ($73,205)

Leuris Pupo won gold for shooting at the fourth Olympic Games.

Cuban athlete Leuris Pupo competed in the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol event at four different Summer Games: Sydney (2000), Athens (2004), Beijing (2008) and London (2012). He placed 9th, 7th and 7th in the first three competitions before taking gold in London. He scored 34 in the final, which equaled the previous world record. Furthermore, this was the first time a Cuban national had won a gold medal in any Olympic event, instantly making Pupo a national hero. He went on to take silver at the 2020 Tokyo Games. He is currently competing in Paris, making it his sixth Olympics.

In 2021, his medal went up for auction and was expected to bring about $50,000, but instead brought $73,205 from an American investor. Given Pupo’s inauspicious story and the national pride his victory has brought to Cubans everywhere, this is sure to be a gold medal that will continue to grow in value.

4. Bob Beamon ($441,000)

In 1968, Bob Beamon broke the world record in the long jump.

At the 1968 Mexico City Games, Bob Beamon showed that a man can fly. In his first attempt at the long jump, he jumped 8.90 m (29′ 2.5 in). This was 22 inches further than the previous world record; so far, in fact, that it exceeded the capability of the electronic system used at the time to measure distance. Beamon’s record stood undefeated for 23 years. When his gold medal went up for sale in 2024, the highest bidder paid $441,000.

3. Luz Long ($488,000)

Under the watchful eye of Adolf Hitler and other infamous Nazi leaders, German medalist Luz Long took a walk of victory with American Jesse Owens at the Berlin Olympics.

The 1936 Olympics took place at a politically charged time. Just 5 months earlier that year, Hitler sent his troops into the Rhineland, the German border region with France, which was supposed to remain demilitarized under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles at the end of World War I. The Nazi regime promoted racist rhetoric about the superiority of the Aryan race. The 1936 Berlin Olympics were the perfect place for the regime to demonstrate Nazi superiority while the world watched (or listened on the radio).

Jesse Owens shattered that conceit. The African-American track and field athlete outlasted all his competitors, including the Germans, to win four gold medals in the 100m, 200m, long jump and 4 x 100m relay. And then another amazing thing happened. German athlete Luz Long took silver in the long jump. Looking fully the image of the blond-haired Aryan ideal, Luz walked arm-in-arm with Owens through the stadium in a victory lap in full view of Hitler and thousands of fans. It was a moment of respect, racial unity and international cooperation that was precious and rare in that deeply troubled time in history. The name “Luz” comes from a root meaning “light”. So when the medal and other personal memorabilia were put up for auction, the collection was dubbed the “Beacon of Hope.” And that silver medal that represented such hope fetched $488,000.

2. Wladimer Klitschko ($1 million)

Heavyweight boxer Wladimir Klitschko is considered perhaps the best sport in the world.

You don’t want to mess with the Klitschko brothers. The Ukrainian boys both grew up to become world-renowned professional boxers. Vitali became mayor of Kyiv in 2014, and Wladimir served in the Territorial Defense Brigade to defend the city from Russian invaders. If you’ve ever had a problem with them, you’d better get their mother on your side. To date, the “boys” have never wrestled a professional match against each other to honor her request that her sons not wrestle.

Wladimir took gold in 1996 in Atlanta. But he has a heart of gold that is even bigger because he decided to auction off his medal to raise funds for charity to help improve the lives of Ukrainian children. The highest bidder took it home for $1 million in 2012, but then promptly returned it to Wladimir to show his respect and ensure that such a precious legacy could remain in this talented and honorable family.

1. Jesse Owens ($1.4 million)

Jesse Owens competed in the races, relays and long jump.

We already told you the back story of Jesse Owen’s Olympic victory in Berlin (1936) in our Luz Long coverage. Owens won four gold medals and then, after the Olympics, was hired by the United States government as director of athletic programs for African-American soldiers.

Owens befriended Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, the most successful black dancer, singer and actor in the United States at the time. You may remember him from a famous movie, dancing with the young Shirley Temple. In gratitude for Robinson’s help in building his post-Olympic career, Owens presented him with one of his gold medals. It passed to his wife and was auctioned in 2013 after she passed away, fetching a record $1.4 million. That makes it not only the most valuable Olympic medal of all time, but also the most valuable piece of Olympic memorabilia of any kind.

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