Lynn Williams was one of the soccer stars who helped Team USA clinch an Olympic gold medal, but now it is, according to the athlete, “the world’s most expensive coaster.”
Shortly after Williams, 31, helped her teammates win the women’s Olympic soccer final earlier this month, she revealed via Instagram that the ribbon attached to the medal had broken off. Now, Williams is detailing exactly what happened.
“Your medal [has] a little string on it and in [a part on the edge] there was a bar that was holding the ribbon onto my neck,” Williams said in a Thursday, August 22, TikTok video. “Obviously, you guys all saw me swinging the thing around [pretending to play discus with the trophy]. Ironically, that’s not how it broke.”
According to Williams, the medal fell apart after her impromptu track-inspired celebration.
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“I’m sure it didn’t help, but that’s not how it broke. So, I was swinging it around, it was on [and] it was fine,” she recalled. “Then, we were dancing — I think we were playing ‘Strut’ [from The Cheetah Girls 2] actually — but I had it on my shoulder like a little purse. I was just jumping, dancing and [when] I jumped down, it just fell off.”
As soon as the medal hit the ground, Williams stopped grooving to search for it.
“I was roaming around, trying to get my medal off the ground,” she said. “It has a dent now, so it’s definitely one-of-a-kind, and the little bar’s gone. I don’t know what happened, but the bar got loose and it fell out.”
While Williams concurred that “swinging” the medal around likely didn’t help the situation, she did weigh in on the overall quality and durability of the metal.
“I just think that they should have made these better,” she continued. “They should have made them more sturdy and, honestly, I can’t be faulted for that. So, I don’t know if I’m gonna get it fixed. We are waiting to hear from the [International Olympic Committee].”
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According to Williams, the IOC said that she could “likely” get a new medal if she “can prove it was, in fact, damaged.”
“Right now we’re just waiting to see,” Williams added. “But, honestly, I think it’s a cool, funny story. I have a little gold medal.”
Williams and her Team USA peers defeated Brazil in the soccer final on August 10 thanks, in part, to Mallory Swanson’s game-winning goal.
“God is so good. Always and forever. You are such an inspiration to so many, but more to me than anyone can ever fathom,” Mallory’s husband, Chicago Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson, wrote via Instagram at the time. “Your faith in God’s plan, gratitude in life, the grace and joy in which you live and play, the perseverance to fight through whatever obstacles thrown your way. You are truly a gift from above, and you shine with that every day. I’m speechless. And now you’re a gold medal, Olympic champion, and 100 caps in the same day. And that can never be taken from you.”
