Lynn Williams won a gold medal in Paris, but the U.S. women’s national team forward now has, in her words, ‘the world’s most expensive coaster.’
Williams played a key role in the USWNT’s victorious run at the Olympics, coming off the bench in each of the team’s six matches in France. The Gotham FC star scored one goal, putting the final touch on a 4-1 win over Germany in the group phase.
The USWNT was naturally involved in some exuberant celebrations after clinching gold with a 1-0 win over Brazil in the Olympic final. Somewhere in the midst of the team’s after-party, Williams managed to snap the band off her medal.
On her TikTok account, Williams told the tale of how her medal broke.
Though she had posted a video of her swinging the medal around, Williams insisted that wasn’t how it happened. Instead, she said it was during a team dance session.
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‘I had it on my shoulder like a little purse, and I was just jumping, dancing, jumping,’ she said. ‘And I jumped down, and it just fell off. So everybody was dancing, and I was roaming around trying to get my medal off the ground. It has a dent now, so it’s definitely one of a kind.’
Rather than accept that she will have a unique gold medal for life, Williams said she was instead petitioning the International Olympic Committee for a replacement.
‘I don’t know if I’m going to get it fixed,’ she said. ‘We are waiting to hear from the IOC, the Olympic Committee. They said I could probably get one. I had to prove to them that it was, in fact, damaged, but now we’re just waiting to see. If not, honestly, I think it’s a cool, funny story.’
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