Medals from Cuban boxers, volleyball players and baseball players are the most common in these bids.
HAVANA, Cuba. – New Cuban Olympic medals, including silver medals from baseball, boxing and women’s judo, appear in the first semi-annual auction of 2026 by the well-known Boston house RR Auction.
On this occasion, the silver medal won by the multiple Olympic judo medalist Idalys Ortiz at the 2016 Rio Olympics stands out. Although the Cuban’s name is not mentioned, the description of the medal allows us to conclude that it is her medal: it is engraved with the name of the event and the sports category: “Judo/Women’s + 78 kg”.
The value of the medal is estimated at more than 20,000 US dollars (USD).
According to RR Auctionthe medal, “with its original colorful ribbon, is presented in an official wooden case, with the Rio Games logo engraved on the lid” and has “moderate to heavy surface wear (…), the lid of the box is broken at the rotating hinge, but remains secured by its magnetic closure.”
Those in Rio were the first Olympic Games held in South America. The medals awarded to the athletes reflected the objective of “sustainability” and were made with sustainable and recycled materials. For example, 30% of the silver in the medals was obtained from the remains of mirrors, solders and X-ray plates.
Ortiz retired after missing the podium at the 2024 Paris Games after a brilliant career that placed her as one of the most successful women in the history of Cuban sports. The Artemis native said goodbye to the tatami at the age of 34 and with four Olympic medals: gold (Beijing 2008), two silver (Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020) and bronze (London 2012).
The current auction exposes another silver medal also in judo and the women’s category (from Tokyo 2020), but with the information available it is not possible to determine the division. The estimated value of this is more than 30,000 USD.
The podium in the women’s super heavyweight category in Rio was taken by the French Emilie Andeol (gold), the Cuban Ortiz (silver), and the Japanese Kanae Yamabe and the Chinese Yu Song (bronze). In Tokyo: Akira Sone (Japan), Ortiz (Cuba), Iryna Kindzerska (Azerbaijan) and Romane Dicko (Romania) were the medalists in that order.
These two silver medals in women’s judo reappear in the new bidding after they failed to sell at last July’s auction, like the bronze medal in women’s canoe and kayak at Paris 2024 that returns to the scene.
The women’s canoeing competition is once again estimated at more than USD 30,000. The name of the test in which it was awarded (Canoe-Kayak Sprint) is inscribed on the lower edge, but the description does not indicate who obtained it. The bronze winners in that modality represented Denmark (K1-500 meters), Germany and Hungary (K2-500), Hungary (K4-500), Cuba (C1-200, Yarisleidis Cirilo), and Canada (C2-500).
Medals from Cuban boxers, volleyball players and baseball players are the most common in these bids. They come to RR Auction through collectors who have acquired them from intermediaries or from the athletes themselves, who decide to part with their honorary award under pressure from economic needs.
Unlike athletes from other nations, where even many of the talents and their metals are originally powered by their parents’ pockets, in the Cuban case the medals are connected to the public budget of the ordinary citizen.
The historical ideologization of the Olympic medals is what causes the Cuban athlete not to recognize the sale of his medal. Some say it’s a lie, others say it had been stolen or lost, and still others remain silent. Some have come to recognize the fact after distancing themselves from the regime’s sports system.
Another Cuban medal in the RR Auction display belonged to boxer Yankiel León. Although the American bidding house does not mention his name, in the corresponding description It is indicated that the reverse of the Beijing 2008 silver medal presents the emblem of the Games surrounded by inlaid jade and the outer circle engraved with the sport and division: “Boxing Bantam weight 54”. The silver in that peso was won by the native of Jobabo (Las Tunas).
The medal has a bidding estimate of more than 8,000 USD. León traveled to Beijing instead of the double Olympic champion William Rigondeauxbanned for life on the Island after the public sentence of Fidel Castro, after his failed escape attempt with Erislandy Lara during the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro. Both later fled to the United States.
León had fallen eight times with Rigondeaux in Cuba. In the Chinese event they lost in the final with the Mongolian Enkhbatyn Badar-Uugan 16-5 after defeating, always on points, K. Abutalipov (Kazakhstan), W. Petchkoom (Thailand) and B. Julie (Mauritius).
A new medal, also silver, from the Cuban baseball team defeated by the United States in the final of the Sydney 2000 Olympic tournament, is once again among the offers, with an estimated sale of more than 10,000 USD.
Cuba lost 0-4 to the Americans. The team was made up of Ariel Pestano, Juan Manrique, Orestes Kindelán, Antonio Scull, Antonio Pacheco, Oscar Macías, Omar Linares, Gabriel Pierre, Germán Mesa, Danel Castro, Javier Méndez, Luis Ulacia, Yobal Dueñas, Yasser Gómez, Miguel Caldés, Rolando Meriño, José Ariel Contreras, Pedro Luis Lazo, Omar Ajete, José Ibar, Lázaro Valle, Yovani Aragón, Maels Rodríguez and Norge Luis Vera.
In the bidding last July, a medal from this same Cuban team then directed by Servio Borges was purchased for 3,750 USD. His estimate was around $8,000. In none of the cases is the bidding site identifying who the award belonged to or its current collector.
