The Olympics--also a taxing matter

We tax profs manage to find a tax angle to everything, if you haven't noticed.  For the last couple of days, there has been a long and fruitful conversation about the tax treatment of Olympic athletes competing abroad.  I'm with the general consensus that the prize money awarded by the US Olympic Committee ($25,000 for gold and down) and the value of the medal itself are income that must be reported.  There's a venerable fellow in our group who was Commissioner back several decades ago who brings a real taste of authenticity to the discussions--that's Sheldon Cohen.  He tells us that the tax court case that said such medals are income is clearly right. Commissioner v. Wills, 411 F.2d 537 (9th Cir. 1969),   For a bit more, see Paul Caron's posting on this issue, over at Tax Prof.