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Lenzi Learns No Standard for Golds

The more Mark Lenzi hears about the riches of Olympians such as Dan Jansen and Bonnie Blair, the more frustrated he becomes. It's not that he has anything against those athletes; he has an Olympic gold medal, as they do. But Jansen and Blair are millionaires, and Lenzi's broke.

Less than two years ago, Lenzi, who grew up in Fredericksburg, Va., won an Olympic gold medal in three-meter diving in Barcelona. Today, the only way he can think to make money is to do the unfathomable -- sell the medal.

"I really don't want to do it, but I may have to," Lenzi said Tuesday from his home in Bloomington, Ind. "It's hidden in my house anyway. I can't display it because if someone broke in, they'd steal it. What good is it to me that way, where I have to keep it hidden? Maybe it could do something good for me if I sell it."

Lenzi, 25, wants to attend ComAir Aviation Academy in Sanford, Fla., to become an airline pilot. He said flight school will cost him $25,000 -- money he said he doesn't have. Unless he can get a loan or find some other way to obtain the money, he said he will sell his gold medal, which he figures is worth at least the price of tuition.

"Just as diving was a dream of mine, so is flying," Lenzi said. "It's something I've wanted to do for a long, long time, but I never had the time. Now I have the time, but I don't have the money. Twenty-five grand isn't that much, but I don't have it."

How did Lenzi, a well-educated athlete, get into such a predicament? He said he made about $24,000 before taxes last year in support money and winnings from U.S. Diving and the U.S. Olympic Committee. He made almost nothing in endorsements and speeches. After taxes, rent payments ($345 per month), car payments and other expenses, he ended up saving nothing.

This year, he decided to take a break from diving. The rest would do him good, but he said he knew there would be a tremendous financial backlash. All his funding would stop immediately. Other divers would take his place, and take the money.

Since deciding to quit diving, Lenzi said he has been looking for a job, but hasn't found one.

"With all the students still here {at Indiana University}, there's nothing available," he said.

Going stir-crazy at home, Lenzi, who graduated from Indiana in 1990 with a degree in general studies, said he would like to begin flight school in July. So he came up with this idea of selling his gold medal, something the USOC has never heard an athlete say, ever, said spokesman Mike Moran.

"It's upsetting to see anyone thinking of selling a medal," Moran said. "He's worked his entire life for that. It's as precious a possession as anyone could have. But there's really nothing we can do. He's no longer competing and our system doesn't have anything available for an amount like $25,000."

There is a $2,000 tuition grant for retired Olympians, Moran said, that Lenzi can receive "just for the asking." Lenzi said he is aware of that option, and will seek it.

Still, he will be out a lot of money. And he's wondering about the vagaries of Olympic rewards, that some can make millions and others can go broke with the same medal hanging around their neck.

"After getting so much attention in Barcelona, it's very disappointing," Lenzi said, "especially when you see certain athletes get into scuffles, and they don't even win a medal, and they can potentially make millions."

Figure skating included, the fact is all Olympic gold medals are not of equal weight. It depends who wins them, how much publicity the winners receive on television at the Games and how prepared they are to capture their fleeting commercial opportunities when they return home.

Lenzi said that after Barcelona he had an agent "who really wasn't an agent." Hence, there were no commercials in his future. He did the "Tonight" show and the morning shows, and flew here and there for speeches, but none of that made him rich.

"Most of the speeches were for charitable organizations," Lenzi said. "I'd say one out of eight were for money," mostly in the $500 to $1,000 range. Added up, that's a few thousand dollars for six months' effort after Barcelona.

Lenzi and athletes like him had some other built-in troubles. His gold medal was one of 37 won by the United States at the 1992 Summer Games, which included, of course, the attention-grabbing basketball Dream Team.

At the Winter Olympics, there were six U.S. gold medals won by five athletes (Blair earned two), as well as the most lucrative Olympic silver medal of all time, won by Nancy Kerrigan.

"If you've got 37 gold medals being won, the likelihood of someone remembering one athlete who wasn't a multi-medalist or didn't get a lot of TV time is not good," said Parkes Brittain, director of the Olympic sports division and vice president of Washington-based Advantage International, which represents Blair, among others.

"A lot of it depends on how the story gets out there, and you've got to prepare for that well beforehand," he said. "We start our marketing effort at least a year before the Games. If you're not ready when you win the gold medal, it's almost too late."

What particularly galls Lenzi is the perception that all Olympic gold medalists cash in on their performances.

The other day, a man recognized Lenzi and asked, "What's it like to be rich and famous?"

"Rich?" replied Lenzi. "I've got to bum money off my friends."