NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana, October 17. IN the second of three parts of a special Q&A session, Anthony Ervin talks about a myriad of topics, including the period of time when he made the decision to sell the gold medal he won in the 50 freestyle at the 2000 Olympics.
Ervin's life was in flux in 2005, and he was not happy with having the gold medal around him as it was "a symbol of my strife and my struggle, but it was also a symbol of my victory." With his desire to completely distance himself from swimming, and with a need to give to victims of the 2004 tsunami in southeast Asia, the idea of selling his medal became a no-brainer.
"I wanted to be in that moment (of giving to the world), and I figured the one thing I had that could possibly making a difference was my medal, so I put it out there," he said.
