The story of Louisville native Muhammad Ali throwing an Olympic gold medal from the Second Street Bridge into the Ohio River is a widespread legend in his hometown, but did it really happen?
In short, Ali’s loss of the medal is the only part of the story that seems to be definitely true.
Where does the story come from that Muhammad Ali threw his Olympic medal into the Ohio River?
The story is included in Ali’s 1975 autobiography, The Greatest: My Own Story, which he wrote with author Richard Durham.
According to the most common story, Ali, then 18 years old and still using his birth name Cassius Clay, threw away the medal he had won as a boxer at the 1960 Summer Olympics out of disgust because a Louisville restaurant had racially discriminated against him by refusing to serve him.
Some of those who helped publish Ali’s autobiography have publicly expressed doubts about the gold medal story. Acclaimed novelist Toni Morrison, who helped publish Ali’s autobiography, was quoted as saying, “When the book came out, Ali denied it was true.”
“I think it was at a press conference when he was asked about the medal and he said, ‘I don’t remember where I put it.’ He also said he hadn’t read the book,” Morrison said in David Remnick’s 1988 Ali biography, “King of the World.”
In an interview for a 2010 Courier Journal article about the gold medal story, Ali’s wife, Lonnie, said he would only mention it if asked, and if asked, he would either say “yes” or not answer the question.
“He never says no. I never heard him say no,” Lonnie said of her husband, who died in 2016.
At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Ali received a replacement gold medal from the International Olympic Committee. He also lit the Olympic flame at the opening ceremony that year.
What is the Muhammad Ali Center’s position on this story?
A large window at the Ali Center looks out onto the Louisville riverfront and then over to the bridge where the legend of the discarded gold medal is said to have taken place. Here, the center’s staff tell the story to visitors, but aren’t sure if it’s actually true.
“We don’t have any actual evidence of what happened to the gold medal, so we always tell it as a legend because, to our knowledge, no one has ever found the medal,” Ali Center archivist Amelia McGrath said in an interview with The Courier Journal.
Regardless of whether the legend of the gold medal is true or not, McGrath says the story should be known for how it teaches its audience to take a stand against discrimination.
“(Ali) realized that he was not treated as equal as everyone else, even though he had done so much great work for his country,” McGrath said. “He thought about who he was and what his place was in the world.”
The replacement gold medal Ali received is on display at the Ali Center, 144 N. Sixth St.
Read the previous part of Just Askin’ here: Just wondering | How did Louisville’s legendary Dirt Bowl basketball tournament get its name?
Reach reporter Leo Bertucci at [email protected] or @leober2chee on X, formerly known as Twitter
