Ryan Lochte auctioning off silver, bronze Olympics medals for charity
Ryan Lochte is putting a bunch of his old Olympic medals up for auction.
The former Team USA swimmer is auctioning off all of the silver and bronze medals that he won at the Olympics throughout his career, and plans to donate all of the proceeds to charity.
“I don’t want people to think I didn’t care about the medals,” he told NBC Sports. “I cherish them, but they’re just sitting in my closet collecting dust.”
Lochte is auctioning off six medals in total from three Olympics, dating back to the 2004 games in Athens. The silver medal he won in those games is up for sale, along with two bronze medals he won at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. He has three medals, two silvers and a bronze, from the 2012 games in London packaged together, too.
The auction runs through July 21 through RR Auction. He is also auctioning off a watch and a custom made ring.
Proceeds will go to the Jorge Nation Foundation, which helps to send terminally ill or seriously sick children on a once-in-a-lifetime trip. Lochte, 37, has worked with the foundation for decades, per the report, and his agent is on the board of directors.
Lochte, who won 12 Olympic medals in his career, said he may auction some of his gold medals off in the future. He plans to keep the first individual one that he won from the 2008 Olympics. He has not competed since he failed to make the Tokyo Olympics team last year.
“I feel amazing about [the auction] just because I’m going to be helping kids out,” he said, via NBC Sports.