People Are Just Now Discovering That Olympic Coaches Don’t Get Medals And They Are Furious

After Team USA’s thrilling overtime win in the gold medal match of the women’s hockey tournament at the 2026 Winter Olympics, head coach John Wroblewski had one simple request of superstar Hilary Knight.

He just wanted to take a quick look at her gold medal: the representation of everything he and his team had worked for over the last four years.

But fans wondered, why couldn’t Wroblewski simply look at his own medal?

USA women’s hockey coach John Wroblewski asked Hilary Knight, “Can I check out your gold medal?” pic.twitter.com/OGX43I97AM

— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) February 20, 2026

The answer is simple. Contrary to popular belief, when a team wins a gold medal – or any medal, for that matter – in the Olympics, only the athletes are awarded medals. The coaches are not.

This fact was stunning to fans, who couldn’t seem to understand why the coach wouldn’t also be awarded a medal?

“The fact that coaches don’t get medals is absolutely asinine,” one fan wrote.

“This is how I learned coaches don’t get medals. I sort of understand the coach of an individual team maybe not getting a medal. But a team sport like this … odd imo,” wrote former NFL offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz. 

So, what’s the deal?

Why Don’t Coaches Get Olympic Medals?

Officially speaking, medals are reserved specifically for athletes because the Olympic Games are meant to be a celebration of those competitors, not the coaches.

And, to a point, there is an argument to be made there.

Do you only award medals to coaches of a team sport? If so, why? And do assistants also get medals, or only the head coach?

There are plenty of logistics to be figured out.

But let’s get down to brass (or, in this case, gold) tacks.

The real reason likely lies in the cost.

The current “melt value” of an Olympic gold medal, given the prices of precious metals, sits at around $2,500. And that doesn’t even take into account what a medal could fetch at auction, given its historic or sentimental value.

It also does not take into account the labor cost to make medals.

So, in all reality, this is likely a simple matter of cost for the IOC, even given the billions of dollars it rakes in. But it’s still ridiculous that Wroblewski and others will leave the Winter Olympics empty-handed.