2 Months. That’s all it took for Emma Hayes to pull off a feat of monumental standards by leading USWNT to an Olympic gold medal win.  Yet, Hayes was left without a gold medal on her neck when her 18 players flaunted the prized Olympic possession in Paris. Former USWNT star player Abby Wambach thinks the Olympic organizers are doing a disservice by snubbing coaches from the list of gold medalists. Well, soccer coaches are not the only ones. No coach, be it a team sport coach or an individual coach, ever gets a chance to flaunt an Olympic medal. Why so? Let’s find out.

We have often seen World Cup-winning coaches gleefully pose for pictures with their gold medals on. But the World Cup, as we know, is a single sports event. And the Olympics is not. If the International Olympic Committee were to give medals to Emma Hayes and Steve Kerr, many would question why they did not give a medal to Noah Lyles’ coach Lance Brauman. Indeed, why would coaches of team events such as soccer and basketball get medals when coaches of individual winners are snubbed by the IOC?

Anyhow, Abby Wambach is not quite happy with this way of the Olympic committee. She is so happy for Emma Hayes’ milestone win with the USWNT. But still believes it is incomplete without the gold medal.

Emma Hayes was ecstatic about their gold medal win, without having one on her neck

Emma Hayes took to Instagram with a picture of her and her assistant coach celebrating Team USA’s Olympic win during the medal ceremony. However, we could see Hayes and her assistant far away from the podium where they were distributing medals. She could also be seen pointing her fingers to her bunch of players in joy, “Gold Babyyyyyy. These women are so worth it,” Emma Hayes captioned her post. So, not only does the IOC not give medals to coaches, they don’t even summon them to the podium during the ceremony. No wonder why Wambach blasted the authorities.

“Thank you Emma!! You are the real deal and made us all very very happy today. Love the way you approach the team and I can tell the players love you. It’s a shame coaches don’t get medals. You deserve one… this I know for sure,” Wambach commented on the post. Anyhow, the former US star’s wrath is not going to change the Olympic rule on not giving medals to coaches. Hayes could indeed have gotten a lot of medals last night, perhaps all 18 of them worn on her neck. The USWNT stars would indeed have honored their coach this way inside the team locker room.