# Team GB has to give up medals from 2020 **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [April 14, 2022, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/team-gb-has-to-give-up-medals-from-2020/962844 "2022-04-14T22:57:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2022, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/team-gb-has-to-give-up-medals-from-2020/962844/1 "2022-04-14T22:57:16Z")
> **[Team GB ordered to return Olympic medal from Tokyo 2020 Games | CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/14/sport/team-gb-return-2020-olympics-medal-spt-intl/index.html)** > > The British Olympic Association (BOA) announced on Thursday the team was informed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) that it must return the silver medals from the 4x100m relay event won during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Question: What if they don’t wanna? Or have already sold the medal to a collector? Is there any international legal mechanism that can send IOC ninjas out to retrieve the medals? ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2022, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/team-gb-has-to-give-up-medals-from-2020/962844/2 "2022-04-14T23:12:29Z")
WAG I’d imagine their harshest threat would be to DQ them from future Olympics until the medals are returned or otherwise accounted for. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2022, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/team-gb-has-to-give-up-medals-from-2020/962844/3 "2022-04-14T23:12:31Z")
I’m not sure why you’d need any mechanism of enforcement. You’re stripped of the result regardless. If you want to keep a meaningless tainted disc of metal and never compete again, you could hang on to it, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2022, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/team-gb-has-to-give-up-medals-from-2020/962844/4 "2022-04-15T00:08:34Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > If you want to keep a meaningless tainted disc of metal and never compete again, you could hang on to it, I guess. Supposedly they’re worth about $450 US, per their weight in silver. [https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/31/sport/olympic-medals-value-explainer-scli-intl/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/31/sport/olympic-medals-value-explainer-scli-intl/index.html) A gold medal is worth about $800, while a bronze medal (which is mostly copper) is about $5. That’s just if you melt them down. As a collector’s item, it might be far more valuable. So, the accomplishment is now moot per the IOC. Trying to get the physical medal back seems a bit petty compared to how much money is involved in making an Olympic Games event happen. But they’re not completely worthless. 🤷‍♂️ ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2022, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/team-gb-has-to-give-up-medals-from-2020/962844/5 "2022-04-15T00:17:24Z")
> **[List of stripped Olympic medals](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stripped_Olympic_medals)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > The following is a list of stripped Olympic medals. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is the governing body of the Olympic Games, and as such, can rule athletes to have violated regulations of the Games, for which athletes' Olympic medals can be stripped (i.e., rescinded). Stripped medals must be returned to the IOC by the offending athlete. > In the case of team events, the rule was revised in March 2003 so that the IOC can strip medals ... They’re in good company. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2022, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/team-gb-has-to-give-up-medals-from-2020/962844/6 "2022-04-15T00:41:00Z")
Yeah, and the IOC could sue for their return or their cost, but it’s pretty impossible to force the turnover of something readily hidden or given away. Maybe someday those medals will be worth a little more than a typical Olympic Silver medal because of their backstory and rarity. But I have a feeling there will be many more such medals in the future. ETA: I see above they are not so rare now either, though maybe most of them were physically returned. ---
**Author:** ![steepone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/977dab/32.png) [@steepone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steepone)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2022, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/team-gb-has-to-give-up-medals-from-2020/962844/7 "2022-04-15T04:48:13Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > Supposedly they’re worth about $450 US, per their weight in silver. > > [https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/31/sport/olympic-medals-value-explainer-scli-intl/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/31/sport/olympic-medals-value-explainer-scli-intl/index.html) > > A gold medal is worth about $800, while a bronze medal (which is mostly copper) is about $5. > > That’s just if you melt them down. As a collector’s item, it might be far more valuable. > > So, the accomplishment is now moot per the IOC. Trying to get the physical medal back seems a bit petty compared to how much money is involved in making an Olympic Games event happen. But they’re not completely worthless. 🤷‍♂️ As collector’s items the fact that they should have been handed back may make them even more valuable ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2022, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/team-gb-has-to-give-up-medals-from-2020/962844/8 "2022-04-15T05:12:42Z")
I was thinking that as well… ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2022, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/team-gb-has-to-give-up-medals-from-2020/962844/9 "2022-04-15T05:32:04Z")
From the athlete’s perspective, it has to be a big enough payoff to justify ending their entire career, and ending it in disgrace. The only circumstance I can imagine would be an athlete who is banned for life or was about to retire anyway and disputes the decision. Or maybe conceivably if the athlete’s national federation also dispute and defy the decision, in which case perhaps the athlete could continue to compete domestically. From the IOC’s perspective, if they get it back they are not going to sell it to a collector, so the value of the metal is worth maybe an hour of a lawyer’s time. I can’t see why they would really care or have any incentive to do anything about it. Obviously changing the record books and awarding a medal to the new recipient isn’t contingent on getting the stripped physical medal back. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2022, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/team-gb-has-to-give-up-medals-from-2020/962844/10 "2022-04-15T13:15:04Z")
Are they giving the bronze team a set of silvers and the fourth place team a set of bronze medals? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2022, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/team-gb-has-to-give-up-medals-from-2020/962844/11 "2022-04-15T13:40:10Z")
That’s what they typically do, yes. I wonder the IOC asks for the bronze medals back and then regifts them? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2022, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/team-gb-has-to-give-up-medals-from-2020/962844/12 "2022-04-15T14:39:19Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > WAG I’d imagine their harshest threat would be to DQ them Mmmm… DQ… ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2022, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/team-gb-has-to-give-up-medals-from-2020/962844/13 "2022-04-15T19:22:16Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > WAG I’d imagine their harshest threat would be to DQ them from future Olympics until the medals are returned or otherwise accounted for. A toothless threat if any of them have retired/intend to do so before the next Olympics. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2022, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/team-gb-has-to-give-up-medals-from-2020/962844/14 "2022-04-15T22:39:51Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > DQ… [![](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/images/minibliz-flighttray-cc-bd-sb-q219-f-lg-1556810525.jpg) ](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/images/minibliz-flighttray-cc-bd-sb-q219-f-lg-1556810525.jpg)