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Louise Thomas
Editor
US Olympic soccer star Lynn Williams accidentally left Paris with a gold medal coaster.
The Paris 2024 competitor won her first gold medal after she helped her team win against Brazil in the women’s soccer final. Unfortunately, the 31-year-old athlete’s trophy medal was damaged during her team’s rowdy victory celebration.
On August 22, Williams opened up about the accident, detailing what exactly was broken in a TikTok video. First, she admitted she’d gotten “carried away with the celebratory actions.” Not only did her medal suffer the consequences but her health did too.
“I got myself sick,” she confessed as she finished cooking soup and lathered an English muffin in butter. Williams said: “Anywho, thought it was finally time to tell you the long-awaited question: ‘How did I break my medal? How did I get the world’s most expensive coaster?’”
For context, Williams revealed how the medal was originally attached to a blue ribbon meant to hang around the neck of the recipient. The soccer player pointed to the edge of the medal, admitting there used to be a bar with a string attached to the ribbon.
While footage of Williams showed her swinging the medal above her head by the ribbon at an after-party in Paris, that wasn’t how her accolade broke.
“I’m sure it didn’t help but that’s not how it broke,” she proclaimed. “So, I was swinging it around, it was on, it was fine. Then, we were dancing.
“But I had it on my shoulder like a little purse, and I was just jumping, dancing, jumping. I jumped down and it just fell off,” Williams admitted.
Worried about where it was, the Olympic athlete searched the floor for her gold piece as everyone danced around her. “I was roaming around trying to get my medal off the ground,” Williams remarked.
Sadly, the medal now has a chip on the outer edge from where it hit the floor. Additionally, the “little bar” that was once securing the piece to the ribbon went missing.
“Probably swinging it around didn’t help,” Williams added. “But I just think they should have made these better. They should have made these more sturdy, and honestly, I can’t be faulted for that.”
Williams noted that she wasn’t sure if she could get it fixed as she hasn’t heard back from the IOC yet. Before the Olympic Committee decides, she must prove it was damaged.
She confessed: “Honestly, I think it’s a cool, funny story.”
Swarms of amused viewers rushed to Williams’ comments section, validating and assuring her she wasn’t at fault.
“I agree queen, not your fault,” one supporter wrote, while another said: “They should give you a new one!!!!! That one is defective!!!!”
A third agreed: “Hilarious story! Def should have been made better. The MOST important thing is that you are a gold medalist!!!”
