Photo: https://www.npr.org/2024/08/07/nx-s1-5066690/us-figure-skating-team-olympic-gold-beijing-valieva-doping
Welcome back to The Sunstone Way.
The Summer Olympics are in full swing, and the news each morning now begins with the medal count. It’s on television, it’s in the newspaper, it’s even in the elevator on the way up to Sunstone headquarters.
Competitive Irony
The concept behind the Olympics is peaceful competition bringing nations together through sports. That’s why the ancient Greeks offered safe passage to athletes from warring states.
But in the real world, politics and one-upmanship has been a part of the Olympics for more than a century. We keep score, and the country with the most medals wins. That, in turn, makes the winner somehow superior.
I’ll admit, I’m more competitive than most, and I watch that medal count. I want the American swimmers to be better than the Australians, and we all know it’s the U.S. against the world in basketball and soccer – sorry, football.
I try to remember, though, that these Games are about the individual athletes as much, if not more, than the country-centric patriotism. How could you not root for the 22-year-old Frenchman Leon Marchand when he won the 400-meter Individual Medley gold medal in front of his hometown crowd – the first time someone from France had ever won in that event?
What’s A Medal Worth?
It’s called a gold medal, but it is made primarily from silver, plated with gold. There are 6 grams of gold in the 2024 gold medal and 523 grams of silver, worth around $1,000 if it was melted down. Oh, and there’s a sliver of the Eiffel Tower in each medal as well – iron recovered from repair operations over the years.
But it’s an Olympic Gold Medal, for crying out loud. That’s pretty rare. Medals sold at auction from even low-profile sports like fencing have fetched $15,000 to $30,000 at auctions.
Medals from marquee sports – swimming, gymnastics, basketball, etc. – are worth much more on the open market. And what about those attached to superstars like Simon Biles? If for some reason she would part with one, we’re talking six figures easily.
Real Value
What is something worth when you have worked for years, maybe your whole life, to earn it? I believe the answer, even if it is a cliché, is it is priceless.
It’s not a matter of how much money the medal will put in the bank. It is about what that medal stands for. In that moment in time, you were the best of the best in your field.
You have fulfilled your American Dream.
That’s an over-simplification, I know. But I’ve been watching the faces of the winners at the end of the race and when they get that medal on the podium, and that’s the look of a dream come true.
Personal Olympics
I believe we can all train for and compete in the Olympics. Not the world Olympics taking place today, of course, but our own personal Olympics.
Whether it’s in sports, business or family life, working toward a goal to be the best I can be has been my mantra in life. There’s a reason one of my favorite phrases is “Go for the Gold.”
I encourage those around me to do much the same. If you get a group of people all working hard for the same goal, you can have an Olympic-style team pulling together toward that finish line. That’s what we’re working to build here at Sunstone.
That’s why it’s called The Sunstone Way.
Oh, and as of Aug. 7, the tally for the Americans is 27 Gold, 35 Silver, 32 Bronze for a total of 94. USA! USA!
As always, remember to be a Sunstone!
John Keisler
CEO & Managing Partner
Sunstone Management, Inc.
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©Sunstone Management, Inc. 2024