The surprising place Olympian Saya Sakakibara keeps her gold medal
Saya Sakakibara made headlines in August after racing her way to win Australia's first ever gold medal in BMX racing at the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
After the historic moment, you'd be forgiven for assuming that the BMX racer stores her precious Olympic medal in a padded box or wrapped in socks and locked in a safe like Ariarne Titmus has done.
Where she actually keeps her medal may surprise you.
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Saya Sakakibara reveals the surprising place she keeps her Olympic gold medal. Instagram/ @sayasakakibara
Sakakibara spoke with cohosts Fifi Box, Brendan Fevola and Nick Cody on The Fox's Fifi, Fev and Nick this morning and revealed her unexpected storage method.
"You turn up today, and we ask if we can see your gold medal," Cody said to Sakakibari on air.
"You pull out the little satchel that you get on a Qantas business class flight, that you get for an eye mask and that's what it's in."
"I thought it would be in a metal briefcase that would be attached to your wrist with handcuffs," he jokingly added.
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Cody went on to ask Sakakibara "Is there something about winning it where the medal is incredible, but to you, it seems like 'oh yeah of course I already went through the toughest part, where I keep the medal isn't that important?'"
Sakakibara responded with a laugh.
"It is really important but how else am I going to carry it around?" she said.
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Sakakibara shared that what the medal represents means a lot more to her than the medal itself. Instagram/ @sayasakakibara
Jokes aside, Sakakibara continued to share the significance of the medal.
"In the end, it's just a piece of metal. It's cool – but it's a piece of metal," she said.
"So, that was a big thing for me coming into the Games. It's like why do I want the gold medal? It's not because I want this thing in my hands, it's what it means. So I really had to dig deep and realise why I'm doing it and what's the purpose."
And what was that purpose?
"I just wanted to make myself proud," Sakakibara says.
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