Olympian Michael Diamond’s first Gold Medal from the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games sold for $62,000 at Leonard Joel yesterday, Thursday 5 December with the buyer stating that he is ‘blown away that this important piece of Australian history is mine.’
A six-time Olympian, Michael Constantine Diamond OAM is Australia’s most decorated Trap shooter, having won two Olympic gold medals and five Commonwealth Games gold medals. In 1996, he became the first Australian to win an Olympic shooting event since 1900 with this, his first Olympic Gold Medal for Trap shooting at the 1996 Atlanta Games, where he successfully hit 149 out of 150 targets. He followed this with a win in the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games when he successfully hit 147 out of 150 targets, making him only the second trap shooter to win consecutive Olympic Gold Medals. He also held the World Championship in both the trap and double trap shooting in 2000 and his final world record in trap was held between 2007 and 2008 where he won the trap event at the 2007 World Shotgun Championships.
In his sixth Olympic Games in London in 2012, Diamond led the field at the end of the qualification period, with an Olympic record of 125/125, but fourth overall was his final position in London, a position he also achieved in 2008. Diamond also won five Commonwealth Gold Medals, setting him apart from his Australian peers within the sport.
Leonard Joel Managing Director, John Albrecht said, ‘Olympic Medals rarely appear at auction, and rarer still is the opportunity to acquire a medal that represents such a significant period in Australian Trap shooting.’
In 2017, Michael sold his Sydney 2000 Olympic Games Gold Medal for $72,000. This, his first and only remaining Olympic Gold medal was sold to raise funds to pay for his healthcare as he is currently on the waiting list for a heart transplant.
The buyer of the medal added that ‘I’ll treasure it for the rest of my life, and that he’s ‘sad that the medal has been sold under such dreadful circumstances, but Michael Diamond will always be an Olympic Gold Medal winner, and an incredible Australian.’