Featured here is the 1992 Barcelona Olympics first place winner's gold medal presented to Light Welterweight champion Héctor Vinent. The Cuban boxer holds notable victories over World Champions Shane Mosley, Stevie Johnston, Fernando Vargas, David Diaz, Daniel Santos and Diosbelys Hurtado. He has defeated fellow Olympic Gold Medalists Andreas Zulow, Oleg Saitov, Yermakhan Ibrayimov, Hocine Soltani and Diegenes Luna. Vinent was only 19 years old when he defeated Canada's Mark Leduc for the gold medal in Barcelona. In fact, it marked his first adult championship. Four years later at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics he would repeat as the Light Welterweight gold medal champ. Ring Magazine writer Lee Groves has ranked Vinent as the fifth greatest Olympic fighter of all time.

Made of gilt silver with gold plating, this gorgeous medal measures 70 mm in diameter (8 mm thick at its deepest) and weighs 248 grams (ribbon included). The designer was Xavier Corbero and it was struck by Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre. The front depicts a seated Victory in Modernist style holding a winner’s crown and palm branch with Olympic rings and raised text: "XXV, Olimpiada Barcelona, 1992"; and the reverse features the Games logo of a stylized man leaping over the Olympic rings. The original striped ribbon (mint condition) with Olympic colors is attached and the medal includes its original black pouch. The Barcelona Olympic Committee issued non-descript black pouches instead of cases, and the medals do not indicate the sport or event. Our consignor acquired this medal privately from a Cuban collector, who had procured it from Vinent a while back. The medal has maintained a wonderful gold shine and has just minor surface wear. Héctor Vinent apparently stored in a safe deposit box for many years without being touched.

The 1992 Summer Olympics were the last Games held the same year as the Winter Olympics. In the wake of the Soviet Union’s dissolution in 1991 marking the end of the Cold War, the Baltic nations of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania sent their own teams for the first time since 1936, with the twelve other former Soviet republics competing as the Unified Team. The release of Nelson Mandela and the end of Apartheid allowed South Africa to make its first Olympic appearance since 1950. The highlight of the competition was USA Basketball's "Dream Team" which created a media frenzy in the coastal Catalan city unlike any other. In boxing, Oscar De La Hoya won gold in the Lightweight division.

This is the first gold winner's medal we have ever offered and just the second winner's medal of any kind. (We sold USA boxer Timothy Austin's Flyweight bronze for $6,684 back in 2012.)