Olympian income

[davew128]

like I said; if you want to go with that position, I'll have to see if my boss will honor my work with medals rather than pay (other than minimum wage). That way I can argue there is no real value in the medal and avoid paying income taxes.

The fact remains, the medal does have value on the market, even outside the inherent value as a medal. As such, it would be no different than me giving my kids Krugerrands for their birthdays.

The medal has no readily ascertainable value. While there may be some sort of memorabilia market for olympic medals, the value of a gold medal won by athlete X in a hypothetical auction is not indicative of the value of winning of the medal BY the athlete. In a memorabilia auction, the gold medal from the 100 meter dash will carry a higher pricetag than the winner of the archery competition but you can't then tell me that each would report a different value for their prize.

I can ALSO tell you that one of my clients has a ring from a very recent professional major sports championship and the team he is employed by included the value of that ring on his W-2. Of course we're talking about a 24k gold ring covered in diamonds and something that does have a market for it since said rings could be purchased by fans and the price of the ring for sale was the value included on his W-2.

 

[Mnemosyne]

Rick give full price? Surely not.

Rick Harrison would give the medal price. Chumlee would give you its weight in gold.

******

Rick What do you have for me?

Customer This is a gold medal from the 2012 London Olympics. The guy I bought it from said that this is one of the last medals ever awarded in women's doubles badminton.

Rick If you recall, that was the games where a bunch of athletes were disqualified for throwing their first round matches. It got so bad that Olympic organizers asked fans to tweet their choice for who should be in the final. Missy Franklin and Jordyn Wieber won in straight sets over two girls from Djibouti.

Chumlee Oh yeah. Djibouti call.

Old Man Chumlee ....

Rick Well I'm definitely interested, but I don't know much about these. Let me call a buddy of mine, he specializes in badminton memorabilia, to take a look.

******

Cut to Rick in the storeroom, speaking to camera.

Rick I don't know if this thing is real, but if it is, I want it. I just have to be sure I get it for the right price.

******

Cut to the expert, who confirms the medal's authenticity and values it at a bajillion dollars.

******

Rick So what do you want to do, pawn it or sell it?

Customer I want to sell it.

Rick And what are you looking to get for it?

Customer Well the expert said a bajillion, so I think a bajillion is a fair price.

Rick Yeah, that's not going to happen.

Customer Half a bajillion?

Rick I'm at $500.

Customer Five hundred? The guy said one bajillion!

Rick You got to understand, I'm in the business to make money. I've got to clean it up, polish out the bite marks, put a new ribbon on it. And honestly there isn't a lot of demand for Olympic medals right now, not since Romney became president of the IOC.

Chumlee Romney? I thought he lost the election.

Customer 50 thousand?

Old Man I'll give you $400 for it.

Rick I'll go a thousand, but that's it.

Customer Can you do fifteen hundred?

Rick <dramatic sigh> Tell you what, let's split the difference. $1250. Best offer.

Customer I'll take it.

Rick Great. Let's go do some paperwork.