“I had the most unbelievable experience in my three times playing the Olympics,” said Lydia Ko after winning her first gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. She finished with a 10-under par on the final match day, two strokes ahead of German silver medalist Esther Henseleit. This completes her Olympic medal collection, adding to her bronze from Tokyo 2020 and a silver from the Rio in 2016.
Although she is overwhelmed to have gotten the ‘whole collection of the steak knives’, she has mostly kept the gold medal in her backpack ever since winning it. The Kiwi revealed that she has not yet been able to fully treasure the possession so far, and here’s why.
The LPGA will be joining hands with the Ladies European Tour to host the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open. It is scheduled to take place at the Dundonald Links in Scotland from August 15 to August 18. Since the closing ceremony of the 2024 Olympics was held at Stade de France on August 12, just three days ahead of the commencement of the LPGA event, Lydia Ko had to fly directly to Scotland right after the celebrations.
When asked about how she felt looking at the medal and knowing it was hers now, the Kiwi revealed, “I haven’t looked at it in a couple of days. When I was flying with it, it was weird to kind of take it out because not everybody knew that I am an athlete or an Olympian or that I had won a medal. So it’s kind of awkward at times.”
She also does not like to brag about it and keeps showing it off in public. Lydia Ko even added that she has not seen her medals from the Rio or Tokyo medals either. When her grandmother passed away during the Tokyo Olympics, she had promised to win the Gold medal and make her family proud. Now that she has made the promise, she even dubbed the moment as an ultimate tribute to her late grandmother.
