The Olympics and Cards

The US Olympic Trials are underway and Team USA is shaping up and is almost in its final form for Paris 2024. I’ve always loved the Olympics and am fascinated by the athletes who dedicate their lives to sports that don’t normally bring fame or great fortune. Every four years (really two with the staggered schedule) we get a new batch of sports heroes to learn about. While the athletes are big for advertising and get slapped on all sorts of products, their treatment in the sports card world is a bit more spotty. Still, there will be some big names to chase so let’s get familiar with how the hobby treats the Olympics and who might be the next Olympian to make some hobby noise.  

Olympic Cards?

Olympians have been part of the sports card world from the beginning and you can find quite a few on cards from the tobacco card era. I especially like the 1937 Ogden’s Champions of 1936 set which is highlighted by a gorgeous Jesse Owens cards. You can pick up the other cards in the set for $10 and even less which is illustrative of how the hobby treats Olympians.

The hobby’s approach to Olympians is scattershot at best in terms of products. There have been a few Olympic-specific products in the past and Topps has already released a very cool Great Britain 2024 Olympic team set so I’m hopeful we’ll get at least one Team USA offering this year. The scattershot approach does make it hard to find cards for some of the best Olympians as they just don’t have many cards from major producers. Heck, the most decorated woman in Olympic history, Larissa Latynina, only has a handful of oddball issues. Goodwin and Ginter have both been good at including recent Olympians though. SI for Kids is the other great source of modern Olympic cards.

In terms of pricing, Olympic cards have traditionally been much cheaper than cards from the big four sports. Only the upper echelon of Phelps and Biles sell for substantial sums. There are a few others who sell for a bit, but those are athletes like Shaun White who are famous for much more than the Olympics. The good news is you can pick up cards of your favorites for less than the price of a cup of coffee. The bad news is, you’ll likely be able to still do that in twenty years.

Who to Watch

Team USA is expected to do well and I’m sure we’ll get some new media darlings, but I’m more interested in if any can make some noise in the hobby. It’ll take a combination of winning, personality, and legacy to get attention in a hobby that ignores Olympians generally. Luckily, we’ve got some athletes that provide that.

Simone Biles- She’s already gets a little hobby love, but outside of her autos the prices for her cards remains low. People love a comeback story and this one comes with an already popular athlete raising the bar on her sport. She’s the obvious pick to see a spike in the hobby.

Sha’Carri Richardson- Richardson made a splash last go-round with an amazing qualifier race and then her unfortunate suspension. She’s got the personality needed to become a major star but still does not have a real card. If she dominates the games, her future cards have the potential to become the key card of any Olympic product as we could get the first-ever Olympic rookie chase in the hobby.

Katie Ledecky- Ledecky is legacy building at this point. The Olympics means more medals for Ledecky and it also means we get to see the clips of her as a toddler/child with Michael Jordan hundreds of times.  She can move into the top five of overall medal winners this year depending on what races she chooses to swim and with plans to continue in into 2028, she’ll be poised to become the most decorated women in Olympic history. Ledecky only has a couple of SI for Kids cards which can be had easily for $10 or less.

Victor Montalvo- Breaking (break dancing) is bound to be the hot event of the games and Montalvo is the gold medal favorite. An eBay search for him currently only returns one magazine. Perhaps he can help spark a fun rookie chase along with Richardson in whatever product we get.

Wrap Up

I love the Olympics but it is clear the hobby doesn’t. On the bright side, that means starting an Olympic collection is affordable on almost any budget.