'World's most expensive coaster!' - USWNT star Lynn Williams reveals how she broke Olympic gold medal amid appeal to IOC for a replacement

United States women's national team star Lynn Williams has revealed how she broke her Olympic gold medal after Emma Hayes' side triumphed in Paris.

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  Williams was part of the U.S. roster that stood on top of the podium at the Games in France, featuring in all six matches at a tournament that ended with Mallory Swanson's strike defeating Brazil in the gold medal match.

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  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  However, in the celebrations that followed the USWNT's success, which were well-documented by players across social media, the 31-year-old broke her Olympic gold medal. Almost two weeks since images of her revealing as much first appeared, Williams has now told the story of how it happened.

• WHAT WILLIAMS SAID

  In a video posted to her TikTok account, Williams explained: "How did I break my medal? How did I get the world's most expensive coaster? Your medal has a little string on it obviously and there was a bar that was holding the ribbon onto my neck. Obviously, you guys all saw me swinging the thing around. Ironically, that's not how it broke. I'm sure it didn't help but that's not how it broke.

  "So, I was swinging it around and it was fine and then we were dancing. I had it on my shoulder like a little purse and I was just jumping dancing and I jumped down and it just fell off. Everyone 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 and the little bar is gone, so I don't know what happened, the bar got loose and fell out.

  "Like I said, probably swinging it around didn't help but I think that they should have made these better, they should have made them more sturdy and honestly I can't be faulted for that," she continued, tongue-in-cheek.

• DID YOU KNOW?

  Williams also revealed that she has spoken to the International Olympic Committee about either getting the medal fixed or replaced. "I don't know if I'm going to get it fixed, we are waiting to hear from the IOC, the Olympic Committee," she said. "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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  WHAT NEXT FOR WILLIAMS AND THE USWNT?

  With the USWNT not back in action again until October, Williams' focus now switches back to her club, Gotham. The reigning NWSL champion returns to action this weekend against the Portland Thorns, as the league resumes. However, Williams may not be available for selection again yet as the U.S. Olympians are to be granted a little extra time off following their exploits at Paris 2024.