ビーモン氏の金メダル６５００万円で落札 メキシコ五輪男子走り幅跳び

【ニューヨークＡＦＰ＝時事】陸上男子走り幅跳びのレジェンド、ボブ・ビーモン（米国）氏（７７）は１日、１９６８年メキシコ五輪で当時の世界記録を樹立した金メダルを落札価格４４万１０００ドル（約６５００万円）で手放した。（写真は、１９６８年メキシコ五輪の陸上男子走り幅跳びで、米国代表のボブ・ビーモン氏が獲得した金メダル）
　米ニューヨークの競売大手クリスティーズで行われたオークションを前に、ビーモン氏はＡＦＰの取材で「あれを人手に渡すときが来た」と語った。「オークションはメダルを披露すること、さらにはその記憶を保存するための素晴らしい方法だ」とし、「陸上界の功績の重要性を理解している」買い手に渡ることを望んでいると話していたが、落札者については明らかにされていない。
　ビーモン氏はメキシコ五輪で、それまでの世界記録を５５センチ更新する８メートル９０をマークした。この世界記録は、東京で開催された１９９１年の世界選手権で更新されたものの、現在でも五輪記録を保持している。
　スポーツ記念品の市場が成長を続けている中、クリスティーズの専門家はビーモン氏のメダルに４０万ドル（約５８６０万円）から６０万ドル（約８８００万円）の落札予想額をつけていた。メダルの値段は、税金と手数料を差し引いて３５万ドル（約５１００万円）になる。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/02/02-17:06）

US long jumper Bob Beamon parted with the Olympic gold medal he won at the 1968 Mexico City summer games leaping 29 feet -- the standing Olympic record -- for $441,000 on Thursday.
It's time for me to pass it on, the 77-year-old told AFP, ahead of the award's auction by Christie's on Thursday in New York.
Beamon's historic leap -- technically at 8.9 meters, or 29 feet and 2 1/4 inches -- shattered the previous record by nearly 22 inches. It remained a world record until the 1991 Tokyo World Championships, and still stands as the top Olympic jump.
Amid a growing sports memorabilia market, the experts at Christie's had valued it between $400,000 and $600,000.
The auction was an excellent way to showcase the medal, but also to preserve the memories of it, Beamon told AFP, adding he hoped it would go to a buyer who understands the significance of athletic achievement.
- 'Incredible moment in history' -
Christie's declined to say who had won the medal, which attracted a hammer price of $350,000 -- before taxes and auction house fees.
It was among a series of lots auctioned off as part of Christie's Exceptional Sale, which brought in $6.8 million and included a painting by the Beatles.
Beamon said he still remembers the extraordinary day that was October 18, 1968, after almost missing the games due to overstepping two of his qualifying jumps.
But that day... everything was perfect for me. The wind was perfect. The weather when I jumped was perfect, he recalled. It rained right after I jumped.
I made a couple of mistakes in the preliminaries and I wanted to make sure that in the finals, I would get a fair jump, a legal jump, he said.
But to my surprise, it was not only a jump, but it was an incredible moment in history.
It wasn't the only piece of history made in Mexico City: Those were the same games that saw John Carlos and Tommie Smith expelled from the competition after raising their fists during the US national anthem to protest discrimination against African Americans.
Smith and Carlos were castigated in much of the US media and sporting world -- but that didn't stop Beamon, also Black, from raising his fist on the podium the very next day.
It was a very important day for Tommie and John. Unfortunately, at that time, it was not interpreted in that sense, Beamon said.
Beamon has since gotten back into drumming -- a childhood passion he dropped when sports became number one to me.
The title of a recent album he recorded, with a jazz and funk group?
Olympik Soul.