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Winning Apparel: Michael Jordan Olympic Jersey Fetches Over $3 Million At Auction

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The sports shirt was worn by the late Jordan during the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, where he and his Dream Team won gold. 

Michael Jordan has become the stuff of legend, a name instantly synonymous with the words “basketball” and “champion.” Many fans of the popular sport dream of owning memorabilia that once belonged to the great player.

Given Jordan’s prestige in the world of basketball, it goes without saying that these items can fetch impressively high prices. The jersey he donned during the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona is a recent example of this.

Goldin—an online collectibles marketplace—auctioned the signed shirt on May 25, alongside signed jerseys of all the other members of Jordan’s iconic basketball team, “The Dream Team.” Jordan’s shirt sold for a whopping $3.3 million.

READ ALSO: The Last Dance: Michael Jordan’s 1998 NBA Finals Sneakers Sell For A Record $2.2 Million

The back of Jordan's $3.3 million jersey sold by Goldin
The back of Jordan’s $3.3 million jersey sold by Goldin/Photo from Goldin’s official website
The signed front of the valuable Olympic jersey
The signed front of the valuable Olympic jersey/Photo from Goldin’s official website

Last September 2022, another one of Jordan’s jerseys sold for $10 million. The player wore the garment during the 1998 NBA Finals. It broke records as the most expensive piece of game-worn sports memorabilia in the world.

The Story of a Jersey

Jordan, Larry Bird, and Magic Johnson were some of the powerhouse basketball players that composed The Dream Team. They were the very first NBA-professional group to compete in the Olympics, which was unprecedented before 1992. 

Jordan and the Dream Team playing during Barcelona's 1992 Olympics
Jordan and the Dream Team playing during Barcelona’s 1992 Olympics/Photo from the Olympics official website

As expected, the team was a force to be reckoned with as they conquered the Barcelona Olympics with one landslide victory after another. Jordan wore the recently auctioned $3.3 million jersey during their semifinals game against Lithuania. 

Jordan (middle) and his teammates, Scottie Pippen (L) and Clyde Drexler (R), after winning gold at 1992's Olympics
Jordan (middle) and his teammates after winning gold at 1992’s Olympics/Photo from the Olympics official website

Although their final match against Croatia was a close-run competition, the team emerged with a leading score of 117-85, securing the Olympic gold medal for the U.S. The Dream Team’s 1992 games were so memorable that the Olympics commemorated them by posting a full hour-long video compilation during the 2020 Tokyo games. 

In a 2019 interview with NBA.com, Chuck Daly—the legendary team’s coach—had this to say: “It was like Elvis and the Beatles put together. Traveling with the Dream Team was like traveling with 12 rock stars. That’s all I can compare it to.” 

Banner photo from the Olympics official website.

Pilar Gonzalez

Pilar Gonzalez

Associate Digital Editor

Pilar Gonzalez is the Associate Digital Editor at Lifestyle Asia. A magna cum laude and Program Awardee graduate from Ateneo de Manila University with a degree in Creative Writing, her fiction won the 28th Loyola Schools Awards for the Arts.

Specializing in topics covering culture, the arts, and food, she began her publishing career at Lifestyle Asia after a stint in SEO content writing. Her fiction, art, and poetry have been featured in both local and international publications, including Blue Indie Komiks, HEIGHTS Ateneo, Red Ogre Review, and The Garlic Press.

When she’s not busy chasing deadlines, she’s likely people-watching, reading or watching titles from her endless to-watch and to-read lists, or doting on her two senior dogs.

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