Olympic medal

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Paris' Olympic Medals Feature a Little Something Special

Yep, that's an actual piece of the Eiffel Tower going home with victorious athletes

(Newser) - An Olympic medal with an inlaid piece of the Eiffel Tower. How's that for a monumental prize? A hexagonal, polished chunk of iron taken from the iconic landmark is being embedded in each gold, silver, and bronze medal that will be hung around athletes' necks at the July 26-Aug....

Olympic Medal Sells for $488K: 'Hitler Must Have Gone Crazy'

Silver medal won by Germany's Luz Long, who embraced gold winner Jesse Owens at '36 Games

(Newser) - The silver medal captured by Luz Long, the German long jumper who befriended Jesse Owens at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, sold at auction for more than $488,000, a sum the auction house said was a record price for a publicly sold second-place prize. Long walked arm in arm...

Mayor's Medal Bite Does Not Land Well

Japan's Takashi Kawamura apologizes after his jokey move ignites intense criticism

(Newser) - Olympic athletes have a little tradition of biting their medals. A Japanese mayor tried to join in on the fun, and the joke did not land. The trouble for Mayor Takashi Kawamura of Nagoya began Wednesday when he publicly congratulated a local medalist, softball player Miu Goto, reports Reuters . After...

Hock an Olympic Medal, Bank This Much

Melt down a gold medal and you can expect to pocket $800, and just 5 bucks for a bronze

(Newser) - If you're an elite athlete who's earned the chance to compete in the Olympics, winning a medal at the Games would be metaphorically priceless. But if you had to attach a real, literal price to the coveted hardware, how much could the gold, silver, and bronze versions fetch?...

US Medalist Raven Saunders Does Protest Gesture at Podium

The 'X' arms likely violated Olympic rules, according to reports

(Newser) - After Raven Saunders won a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday, the US shot-putter raised her arms in an 'X' above her head at the podium following the medal ceremony. The 25-year-old told the AP the X symbolizes "the intersection of where all people who are...

At Tokyo Olympics, a 'Very Significant Change'

Athletes will put on their own medals to protect against COVID

(Newser) - Athletes at the Tokyo Olympics will put their medals around their own necks to protect against spreading the coronavirus. The "very significant change" to traditional medal ceremonies was revealed Wednesday by International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, per the AP . "The medals will not be given around the...

10 Countries That Have Never Won a Winter Olympics Medal

Including a country with the word 'ice' in it

(Newser) - When you think "Winter Olympics," a country with the word "ice" as part of its name would seem to be a shoo-in for the event's medal podium. Yet Iceland, which has been competing in the winter version of the Games since 1948, has yet to take...

Bolt Loses Gold Medal, Treble Record
Bolt Loses
Gold Medal,
Treble Record
Jan 25, 2017 10:08 AM CST

Bolt Loses Gold Medal, Treble Record

Teammate doped during Beijing relay race: IOC

(Newser) - Usain Bolt has lost his claim to having won three gold medals at three separate Olympics—through no fault of his own. Bolt will be forced to return his gold medal won in the 400-meter relay in Beijing in 2008 because his Jamaican teammate Nesta Carter tested positive for doping,...

Olympic Wrestler Turns Down Silver Medal

Yogeshwar Dutt's opponent tested positive for doping after his death

(Newser) - It's not often an Olympian turns down a medal, but that's exactly what Indian wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt is trying to do. Yogeshwar won bronze at the 2012 Olympics in London, Indian Express reports. But the wrestler who beat him, Russia's Besik Kudukhov, was discovered to have been...

Lance Armstrong Returns Olympic Medal

He gives up his 2000 bronze from Sydney

(Newser) - Another indignity for Lance Armstrong: He has given back his 2000 Olympic bronze medal. Armstrong tweeted the news himself today along with a photo of the medal, which he picked up at the Sydney Games, reports AFP . The medal is now in the hands of the US Olympic Committee, which...

Sochi Olympics a Massive 'Scam': Claim

Report claims $30B has been stolen

(Newser) - As Russia debuted its Sochi Olympic medals yesterday—bearing what the AP is calling a "patchwork quilt" design complete with sun rays, mountains, and beaches—opposition members were busy unveiling something else Olympics-themed: a report that calls the games "a monstrous scam." Opposition leader Boris Nemtsov co-authored...

16% of Olympic Gold Medalists Cry on the Podium
16% of Olympic Gold Medalists Cry on the Podium
study says
Aug 8, 2012 5:27 AM CDT

16% of Olympic Gold Medalists Cry on the Podium

But there's a big difference between male and female criers

(Newser) - After winning Olympic gold, who cries the most? The Wall Street Journal reviewed the evidence, watching footage of 129 London winners as they accepted their medal to find out:
  • One-quarter of women cry, while just 8% of men break down. (But, the Journal notes, many of the male criers "
...

Why Bronze Winners Are Happier Than Silver Winners

Coming in third not so bad, psychologically speaking

(Newser) - A silver medal is better than a bronze medal—yet psychologists have consistently found that bronze medalists are typically happier than silver medalists with the outcome of a competition. NPR offers up this example from London: After winning a silver, Ryan Lochte reflected on coming up "a little short....

Sorry, Olympic Medalists Don't Deserve Tax Break

Last thing our tax code needs is yet another loophole: Conor Friedersdorf

(Newser) - Marco Rubio claims he wants to simplify the tax code—so why in the world is he calling for Olympians not to be taxed on their winnings? Such a plan "is a perfect example of why the tax code is a complicated and burdensome mess," writes Conor Friedersdorf...

Medal Winners Must Face Tax Man

 Medal Winners 
 Must Face 
 Tax Man 
olympics
Aug 1, 2012 5:06 PM CDT

Medal Winners Must Face Tax Man

Marco Rubio wants to stop that immediately

(Newser) - US Olympians who medal in London get to share some of their glory with the IRS. The group Americans for Tax Reform (a Grover Norquist production) breaks it down this way:
  • Gold: Given the $25,000 cash award and the value of the medal itself ($675), recipients would owe the
...

15 Stories