Olympics snafu sees US champion curlers receive the wrong medals
It was an Olympic snafu. Literally.
Games officials in Pyeongchang, South Korea, inadvertently handed out the wrong medals to the U.S. men’s team champion curlers on Saturday morning, reports the Associated Press.
The squad scooped Team USA’s first ever Olympic gold in the sport against Sweden in a tense final.
But when Joe Polo, John Landsteiner, Matt Hamilton, Tyler George and John Shuster came to receive their medals, all but Landsteiner were reportedly given ones engraved with the words “women’s curling gold.”
The US men's curling team just realized the gold medals they were awarded moments ago say "women's curling gold medal" on them. Their coaches are working on it ... #pyeongchang2018pic.twitter.com/PERIMuXN98
— Alyssa Roenigk (@alyroe) February 24, 2018
ESPN writer Alyssa Roenigk shared a photograph of the athletes analyzing their medals, above. Per USA Today, officials rectified the situation immediately.
Shuster, however, played down the blunder at the post-ceremony press conference. “It wasn’t a big deal at all, I promise,” he said.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
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