The 2020 Summer Olympics was originally scheduled to be held in Tokyo from July 24 to August 9, 2020. Instead, due to the coronavirus pandemic, it was postponed until the summer of 2021, marking the first time in history an Olympic Games was rescheduled (previous Games had only ever been cancelled entirely). Another first was the fact that almost every event took place behind closed doors with no public spectators due to Japan’s COVID-19 safety measures. The 2020 Summer Games were the fourth Olympics in Japan, and Tokyo became the first Asian city to hold the Summer Olympics for a second time (1964). For branding purposes, these Games maintained the original Tokyo 2020 slogan.

This impressive third place bronze medal is just the third winner’s medal of any kind to be offered in a public auction. Designed by Junichi Kawanishi, the obverse has “Games of the XXXII Olympiad Tokyo 2020” in raised characters above the Olympic rings and a winged Nike flying over Panathenaic Stadium with the Acropolis in the background. The reverse has the Tokyo Games logo on a polished stone surrounded by curved lines that represent different patterns of light and energy from the participating athletes and nations. The large, robust medal made of pure bronze has a diameter of 85 mm and its 12 mm thick. It comes attached to its original multicolored ribbon bearing the traditional Japanese design motifs found in ichimatsu moyo (harmonized checkered patterns) and kasane no irome (traditional kimono layering techniques). Altogether with the ribbon it weighs 478 grams (over one pound). The event, from which the third-place recipient can be identified, is inscribed along the bottom edge. This info will be revealed to the winning bidder. The medal has some minor nicks on its surface, but nothing that takes away from the intricate relief imagery and lovely aesthetics. As noted, only two other winner’s medals (both gold) from the 2020 Tokyo Games have sold publicly, including a Welterweight Boxing gold for $83,188 on 1/19/2023.