How many olympic gold medalist swimmers do you remember?

Unless you are in swimming, I would say the answer would be “Not many”

Anthony Ervin (olympic gold medalist for swimming in 2004) is about to
change that and is carving out a name for himself in a very unique
fashion. Ervin is auctioning of his gold medal in eBay and the proceeds are going to go to Tsunami relief.

Is this an attempt to get into the limelight? Ervin says “No” and in his own words –

“Selling my gold medal isn’t an attempt at the limelight,” he said.
“Rather, it’s the least I can do to help give back a little of the good
fortune I’ve experienced through swimming.”

While Ervin may be speaking from his heart and I think he is
doing this for a great cause, I am sure he is in the limelight and that
is just a bonus.

I had not heard of anyone else doing this before and for me, it was a very innovative way of leveraging his accomplishments.

All the best, Ervin! Hope you win another gold medal in the 2008 olympics.