Treasured hardware
Olympic medals revered
as the ultimate prize by DAVE LEMIEUX
Inspired by sunlight refl ecting from the Caucasus Mountains’ snow- capped peaks onto Sochi’s sandy Black Sea beaches, the medals for the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games blend the heft of precious metals with lightweight, crystalline polycarbonate. Like the fi gure skaters who will win them, the medals are a unique
blend of beauty, strength and diversity. Carefully etched on each medal is a “patchwork quilt” of designs representing the many cultures and ethnic- ities encompassed by the Russian Federation. Engraved on the front are the Olympic rings. On the back is the
name of the event in English and the Sochi 2014 logo. Around the rim is the offi cial name of the Sochi 2014 Winter Games in Russian, English and French. Designed for the Chicago-based Leo Burnett advertising agen-
cy by a team of Russian artists, the medals are being crafted by Rus- sia’s leading jewelry maker, Adamas. It will take Adamas’ master jew- elers 18 hours to craft each medal. In all, a record 1,300 medals will be made for the 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Of all medals awarded, about 20 will go to the fewer than 150 fi gure skaters who will compete in Sochi (number in team event will vary). Weighing slightly more than 1 pound, the medals are just more than
three-eighths of an inch thick and just less than 4 inches in diameter. And here’s a not-so-well-kept secret: T e fi rst-place medals aren’t solid gold. T e last time solid gold medals were awarded was at the 1912 Stock-
holm Games. Modern-era gold medals are mostly sterling silver plated in gold. In recent decades, the medals feature design elements using materi- als such as crystal. Using today’s gold and silver values, the metal alone is worth about $700. T e seven gold medals awarded on Feb. 15 (alas, none in fi gure skat-
ing) will have a little extra heft to them. To mark the one-year anniversary of the meteor that blazed across the sky near Chelyabinsk, Russia, those medals will incorporate a piece of the meteorite. T e true value of a gold medal, like gold itself, is determined by its
scarcity and the eff ort required to obtain it. When athletes stand atop the medals podium at the Iceberg Skating Palace in Sochi, each of the fi gure skaters awarded gold in the fi ve events will have spent a minimum of six hours a day, some for as many as 20 years (more than 30,000 hours if you’re counting) solely devoted to reaching that pinnacle. All this to win a medal that takes 18 hours to make, and if melted down, would net them about $700. For the winners, there will never be a greater treasure.
Olympic medal fi nds its way back
to Roles Williams by AMY ROSEWATER Like most elite-level skaters, Barbara Roles
Williams has experienced what it is like to win and lose medals. But not many people have been in her position of fi nding medals. Williams, who earned the bronze medal at
the 1960 Olympic Winter Games, thought her medal was gone for good when it was stolen from her car in 1983. But 20 years later, following an investigation by USA Today, the medal was re- covered. Today, a decade since it was found, it remains at the U.S. and World Figure Skating Museum and Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs, Colo.
After its recovery, the medal was put on display at the museum.
It has remained there since because Williams said she has not been to Col- orado Springs to personally retrieve it. She is concerned, she said, that it might get lost again if it were mailed. Williams, who was 18 when she competed at the Olympics in Squaw
Valley, Calif., briefl y retired from the sport when she delivered her daugh- ter, Shelley. But in 1961, the entire U.S. team, including offi cials and coaches, was killed when its plane heading to the World Championships in Prague crashed. U.S. Figure Skating asked Williams to come out of retire- ment to help revive the beleaguered sport, and she did, winning the U.S. crown in 1962. But after that, she retired for good and went on to become a top coach, guiding the likes of Nicole Bobek and Lisa-Marie Allen. She has lived and coached for the past 10 years in Newark, Del. T e theft of her medal occurred when she was en route to a new
coaching job in Torrance, Calif. She packed her most important belongings in her car, including the Olympic medal, while the rest of her possessions were transported in a commercial moving truck. But as luck would have it, her car was stolen. T e car was recovered, but the belongings were not. After about a year, Williams gave up hope that the medal and her other trophies would be found.
When she least expected a break in her case, however, it came. She
was in Dallas in 2003 for the U.S. Figure Skating Championships when an Olympic memorabilia collector asked her where she kept her medal. Williams gave the same tired reply she had always given: “It was stolen 20 years ago.” But that particular conversation sparked an investigation. As it turns out, a collector had legally purchased the medal about
fi ve years earlier. T e collector did not realize it had been stolen. Once he learned that the medal belonged to Williams, he withdrew it from an auction. Chuck Foster, who had become the U.S. Figure Skating president that spring, helped raise the funds to buy the medal back, and the medal was mailed to Colorado Springs. On July 8, 2003, Williams and the saga of her medal were featured in a segment on NBC’s “Today” show. T at was the fi rst time since its theft that she held her medal in 20 years. “When I received the medal on the ‘Today’ show it took my breath
away. I never thought I would see it again after it was missing for so long. When I see other athletes receive their medals I always hope they can keep them forever.”
SKATING 31
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