Lochte previously sold six medals for $166,000 in 2022
Olympic medals frequently come up at auction, but rarely do they come from well-known athletes.
American swimmer Ryan Lochte is one of those exceptions, with three of his gold relay medals selling Saturday night at Goldin for a combined $385,520, including buyer’s premium.
Lochte previously sold six medals for a total of $166,000 in 2022 at RR Auctions.
Combined with Saturday’s results, Lochte has sold nine medals for $551,520.
Lochte’s 4x200-meter freestyle relay gold medal from the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics led the trio with a final price of $183,000. That medal likely carried a premium as part of Michael Phelps’ run of eight golds.
His 2004 Athens Summer Olympics 4x200-meter relay gold medal fetched $80,520 while his 2016 Rio Summer Olympics 4x200-meter freestyle relay gold medal sold for $122,000.
In 2022, Lochte said he was selling his bronze and silver medals because they were “collecting dust.” Proceeds from that sale reportedly went to the Jorge Nation Foundation, a non-profit that was raising money to send terminally ill children on a trip.
After facing criticism for selling more medals, Lochte reiterated to fans on social media that the medals weren’t important.
“I never swam for the gold medals,” Lochte wrote on Instagram. “My passion has always been about being one of the best swimmers in the world. Those medals? They were just the cherry on top of an incredible journey.”
Lochte now has three more medals in his possession.
Earlier this year, America’s most decorated diver, Greg Louganis, sold two golds and a silver for a whopping $430,865, crushing original estimates.
Gold medals from the 1980 U.S. ice hockey team usually sell for at least $250,000.
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Darren Rovell is the founder of cllct and one of the country's leading reporters on the collectibles market. He previously worked for ESPN, CNBC and The Action Network.
Category: General Sports
