The Olympic gold medal won by Cuban taekwondo athlete Ángel Valodia Matos at the Sydney 2000 Games was auctioned this week for $51,620, according to the American auction house RR Auction.
The entity described Matos as a “martial artist” who “holds a high, if not controversial, position within the annals of Olympic competition.”
For its part, the auctioned item was described as a gold-plated silver piece weighing 193 grams and measuring 68 mm, and it was produced by the Royal Australian Mint.
On the obverse, it features a "Seated Victory" with the Colosseum in the background; the reverse shows the Olympic rings over the iconic Sydney Opera House, with the Olympic torch of that city on the right, and the sport and category engraved on the upper and lower edges, "Taekwondo" and "Men under 80 kg."
Complete with the original blue ribbon embroidered in silver with the legend "Sydney 2000" and the original round box with a metal base and a plastic cover with hinges. The medal has slight discoloration on the front, and the back has a small area of lost gold plating over the engraved sport.
About Valodia Matos, the Cuban sports journalist Julita Osendi wrote some time ago: "In the history of Cuban sports, there are names that, despite having touched the Olympus with their hand, remain in the darkest ostracism."
It is important to note that the taekwondo athlete was banned for life from the World Taekwondo Federation and the International Olympic Committee after having attacked a referee at the Beijing 2008 Olympics, following the judge's ruling that the Cuban lost the match for third place.
Valodia Matos was not only the Olympic champion of Sydney 2000 and the World Cup champion in France that same year, but he also won three gold medals at the Pan American Games and earned gold and silver at the Pan American Games in Rio 2007 and Winnipeg 1999, respectively.
He is currently a coach at the School of Sports Initiation (EIDE) in Holguín.
In addition to the medal of Valodia Matos, 183 Olympic items were also auctioned, among which were another five medals won by Cuban athletes.
There were the gold medal from the baseball team in Athens 2004 and the silver medals from baseball in Sydney 2000 and Beijing 2008, as well as the silver medal of wrestler Yasmani Lugo in Rio de Janeiro 2016. Regarding the baseball medals, which were won collectively but awarded individually to each team member, the names of those who decided to sell their medals were not published.
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