Charles Barkley plans to sell Olympic gold medal

By OlympicTalkMar 9, 2020, 4:54 PM EDT

Getty Images

Charles Barkley said in multiple interviews that he will sell his 1996 Olympic gold medal among other memorabilia from his basketball career to help pay for 20 affordable houses he plans to build in his hometown of Leeds, Ala.

“I don’t think I have to walk around with my gold medal or my MVP trophy for people to know I’m Charles Barkley, so I’m going to sell all that crap,” Barkley said on the Dan Le Batard show last Thursday. “That just clutters my house. I used to keep it at my grandmother’s house, but they all passed away, and I don’t want that stuff crapping up my house.”

It looks like Barkley’s 1992 Olympic Dream Team gold medal will stay in the family, however. Barkley said his daughter wants to keep that one item.

“Because of how sentimental it is for the world,” he said in an Alabama radio interview Friday. “But all of that other stuff, man, is just an eyesore.”

Barkley said he was told his 1993 NBA MVP trophy could fetch at least $300,000 to $400,000 but didn’t give a specific estimate for the 1996 Olympic gold medal.

In 1992, Barkley led the Dream Team in scoring (18 points per game on 71 percent shooting) despite starting just half of the eight games. He also memorably elbowed an Angolan player in a 116-48 rout in the opener. The flagrant foul led to Angola hitting its one free throw during a 46-1 U.S. run.

“If he keeps this up, they’re going to throw him out of the Olympics,” Michael Jordan reportedly said after the game.

Barkley not only made it through Barcelona, but he also returned with four other Dream Teamers for the 1996 Atlanta Games. He averaged 12.4 points per game (on 82 percent shooting), playing seven of eight games, as the U.S. again went undefeated.

Barkley made another memory in Atlanta, throwing one of his shoes into the crowd.

Carmelo Anthony‘s 2004 Olympic bronze medal was reportedly auctioned in 2014 for $14,080.

OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!

MORE: Finalists named for U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team

Follow @nbcolympictalk

French Open: Daniil Medvedev stunned by 172nd-ranked qualifier

By OlympicTalkMay 30, 2023, 11:52 AM EDT

Getty

No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev was eliminated by 172nd-ranked Brazilian qualifier Thiago Seyboth Wild at the French Open, the first time a top-two men’s seed lost in the first round of a major in 20 years.

Seyboth Wild, a 23-year-old in his second-ever Grand Slam main draw match, prevailed 7-6 (5), 6-7 (8), 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 in more than four hours on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

“I’ve watched Daniil play for, like, my entire junior career until today, and I’ve always dreamed about playing on this court, playing these kind of players,” he said. “In my best dreams, I’ve beaten them, so it’s a dream come true.”

Seyboth Wild overcame the ranking disparity, the experience deficit (it was his first five-set match) and cramps. He began feeling them in the second set, and it affected his serve.

FRENCH OPEN DRAWS: Women | Men | Broadcast Schedule

Seyboth Wild, who had strictly played in qualifying and lower-level Challenger events dating to February 2022, became the first man to take out a top-two seed at a Slam since Ivo Karlovic upset Lleyton Hewitt at 2003 Wimbledon, which ended up being the first major won by a member of the Big Three.

The last time it happened at the French Open was in 2000, when Mark Philippoussis ousted No. 2 Pete Sampras.

It’s the most seismic win by a Brazilian at the French Open — and perhaps any major — since the nation’s most successful man, Gustavo Kuerten, won his third Roland Garros title in 2001.

Tuesday marked the 26th anniversary of Kuerten’s first big splash in Paris, a third-round win over 1995 French Open champion Thomas Muster en route to his first Roland Garros title.

As a junior, Seyboth Wild won the 2018 U.S. Open and reached a best ranking of eighth in the world. Since, he played eight Grand Slam qualifying tournaments with a 1-8 record before advancing through qualifying last week.

The 2021 U.S. Open champion Medvedev entered the French Open having won the first clay tournament title of his career at the Italian Open, the last top-level event before Roland Garros.

Medvedev’s defeat leaves no major champions in the bottom half of the men’s draw. The top seeds left are No. 4 Casper Ruud, last year’s French Open and U.S. Open runner-up, and No. 6 Holger Rune. No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz and No. 3 Novak Djokovic play their second-round matches in the top half on Wednesday.

Women’s seeds to advance Tuesday included No. 6 Coco Gauff, who rallied past 71st-ranked Spaniard Rebeka Masarova 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, plus No. 4 Elena Rybakina and No. 7 Ons Jabeur in straight sets.

OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!

Follow @nbcolympictalk

Olympians, Paralympians star on Top Chef World All-Stars in Paris

By OlympicTalkMay 30, 2023, 11:34 AM EDT

U.S. Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls get a taste of Paris in this week’s episode of Top Chef World All-Stars, premiering Thursday at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.

Olympic medalists Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Suni Lee and Paralympic medalists Mallory Weggemann and Hunter Woodhall team up with contestants for a cooking challenge in front of the Eiffel Tower, one year before the French capital hosts the Games.

Olympians have appeared on Top Chef before.

A 2020 episode set at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Coliseum included Diana Taurasi, Rai Benjamin, Nastia Liukin, Ibtihaj Muhammad, Christian Coleman and Kerri Walsh Jennings.

A January 2018 episode featured figure skater Meryl Davis, freeskier Gus Kenworthy and skeleton slider John Daly, one month before the PyeongChang Winter Games.

OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!

Follow @nbcolympictalk

More: Olympics

More: Olympics