A local Paris pawn shop that is only 5 minutes from the Olympic Village has announced that they are no longer accepting Olympic medals. “I just have too much, every day I get five to ten Olympians begging me for money for these stupid medals,” Louis Laurent owner of the pawn shop told The Nut, “I had to say no more, try selling your cheap jewelry somewhere else”
Originally the pawn shop was giving Olympians €5000 for gold medals, €2500 for silver, and €1000 for bronze. Now Laurent says he only accepts gold medals for €100 in store credit. Laurent said that he is worried he won’t be able to get his money back because he just has too many medals in his shop.
The Nut asked Olympians around the village why they pawned off their medals. American bronze medal foil fencer Nick Itkin said, “Fencing doesn’t exactly pay the bills and rent is due when I get back from Paris.” It’s not just the US either, Australian silver medalist in Equestrian, Christopher Burton pawned off his medal for a flight back home. “I only had enough money for a one-way ticket,” said Burton “If I didn’t win, I was going to pawn off my horse Shadow Man.”
Olympians have started campaigning for them to bring back the 100% real gold medal for the next Olympics so that they will be worth more at the pawn shops in LA.
