"Silver f*****g sucks" - Spencer Lee misplaces Olympic medal after expressing dissatisfaction at second-place finish at the quadrennial Games

By Janhavi Shinde

Modified Aug 10, 2024 12:38 GMT

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Spencer Lee expressed dissatisfaction following his silver medal victory in wrestling at the 2024 Paris Olympics. In a further development, Lee later misplaced his silver medal after the event.

Lee was denied the top step of the podium, as he was defeated by Japan’s Rei Higuchi 4-2 in the men's 57kg wrestling category. Although Lee was dominant in the first period with a lead of 2 points, earned after driving the opponent out-of-bounds twice, Higuchi surpassed the lead with 4 points, taking home a gold medal.

Dissatisfied with the second-place finish, Lee shared a picture of the silver medal and wrote:

"Silver f*****g sucks."

According to USA Today, Lee said that his first thought after having the silver medal around his neck was to remove it.

Further, Lee reportedly lost the silver medal.

"First thing I thought of was to take it off, but that's OK, right?" Lee said. "You can get a laugh out of that, right? I don't even have it anymore. I gave it to my sister. I don't even know where it is."

Lee also reflected on his disappointment, sharing:

"Just I'm a guy who believes more in wins and losses, it's more about effort, and I don't think I put a lot of effort in that match, so I didn't deserve to win today and that's OK," he said.

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"Didn’t put a lot of effort" - Spencer Lee sums up his silver-medal winning match

Spencer Lee reacts during the men's Freestyle 57kg final at the Olympic Games 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Getty Images)

Spencer Lee expressed his discontent with the bout against Japan's Rei Higuchi. He earned his first point in the 30-second time given by the referee after a passive show from both wrestlers. His second point followed soon after in the first half.

However, in the second half of the bout, Higuchi took over the scoring. In the dying seconds of the bout, Lee attempted an attack but did not succeed, leaving himself open for the last takedown. In an interview with The Gazette.com, Lee summarized his thoughts regarding his bout:

"Didn’t put a lot of effort," he said. "So, I didn’t deserve to win today, and that’s OK."

“Honestly, just do a lot more action, create action, force him to wrestle me. You know, yeah, he scored one scramble, but you know, I think action favors me and I let him hang on my hand and kind of stand there, and he won one scramble, and that was it.”

Aman Sherwat of India and Gulomjon Abdullaev of Uzbekistan clinched the bronze medals in the same category. While Sehrawat defeated Darian Cruz of Puerto Rico, Abdullaev beat Uulu Almaz of Kyrgyzstan.