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NYTimes
New York Times
11 Aug 2024
James Wagner


NextImg:Behind the Scenes of the ‘Treasure Hunt’ for Olympic History

They met in locker rooms. They met in suites. They met in hallways. The interactions were usually brief.

These weren’t spies or drug test collectors. They are the staff of the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland. And to collect items that tell the stories of the Paris Games, they needed to be everywhere.

There were 32 sports and 329 medal events crammed into two weeks. Many produced first-time winners or indelible moments. So museum staff members fanned out as history happened to gather mementos: a gymnast’s leotard, a fencer’s saber, a Grand Slam tournament champion’s tennis racket, an opening ceremony outfit.

“It’s like a treasure hunt,” said Anna Volz Got, part of the museum’s heritage acquisitions team.

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An Se-young of South Korea, the gold medalist in women’s badminton singles, giving her headband to Isabel Sánchez of the Olympic Museum.Credit...Dmitry Kostyukov for The New York Times

Sometimes the treasures are easy to find and the athletes eager to donate. Sometimes it’s harder to track down the right person to ask for a contribution, or persuade a competitor who is not ready to part with a valuable item forever. It’s all about working connections and waiting. But staff members said they don’t twist arms: The donations are always voluntary.

“We want to acquire treasures, but we’re not in ‘Indiana Jones’ mode,” said Yasmin Meichtry, who has led the team since 2015.


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