One of the largest collections of sports and Olympic coins is located in Slovakia. Thanks to sports enthusiasts from the Coin&Co Group and their partners, a selection of more than 8,000 coins from 62 countries are being presented to the public in Hungary for the first time. The collection’s uniqueness also lies in the fact that the owners have been enhancing it with autographs of sports legends for several years. Thanks to this, they create a unique part of the heritage of sports history from the collection.

Among the exhibits on display are coins signed by some of the biggest track and field stars. One of them is the incredible US sprinter Allyson Felix, the most decorated female athlete in Olympic history with 11 medals (including 7 golds). Another is Javier Sotomayor from Cuba, Olympic champion and world record holder in the high jump. His best indoor high jump performance of 243 cm, which he achieved in Budapest in 1989, remains unbeaten to this day. Of course, the collection also includes the Hungarian Olympic champion in the hammer throw and multiple winners of The Gyulai István Memorial, Krisztián Pars, or American with Hungarian roots Joe Kovacs, 2-time Olympic silver medalist in the shot put.

The collection is growing all the time and after the premiere exhibition at the Slovak Olympic and Sports Museum in 2022, the World Athletics Championships in Budapest 2023 will be the only occasion this year when an exhibition of this collection will be accessible to the general public. 

Something you might not know: Issuing of sports Olympic coins used to be one of the most important income pillars for the Olympic movement. Profits from coin sales were not surpassed until 1984 by television rights revenue for the Los Angeles Olympics but still contributed $73.5 million to the Games’ budget that year. Athletic motifs appeared on coins for the first time on the occasion of the Olympic Games in Montreal, Canada in 1976. They were classic athletic disciplines: marathon, men’s hurdles, women’s shot put, and javelin throw.