Why All the Fuss Over Olympic Coins?

This article, which appeared in the GAO Review, Vol. 18, Issue 1, Winter 1983, describes the significant assistance which GAO provided to Congress in its deliberations over the Olympic Commemorative Coin Act. GAO identified several important issues which it believed that Congress should consider and provided options for revising the legislative proposals to resolve these issues. As a result, Congress passed a law to help finance the 1984 Summer Olympic Games and U.S. amateur athletics which will save the Government about $360 million in indirect financing which would have gone to a private marketing consortium.