Gold-medal memories: Nelly Korda, Xander Schauffele, Justin Rose reflect on tears of joy with guacamole-stained, Justin Timberlake celebrations

It had been a long, long day, punctuated by a 30-minute weather delay as Nelly Korda was playing the penultimate hole of the 2020 Olympic women’s golf competition. A clutch par on the 72nd hole would later ensure the victory was hers.

As Korda stood on the podium and saw the American flag being raised while the national anthem played, the emotions were almost overwhelming.

“That's when I realized that, wow, I just won an Olympic gold medal and everyone I watched on TV get to stand on the podium, that's what I'm doing right now,” she said.

“I had a couple tears fall down my face. I think after the tensions that you go through and the adrenaline you go through throughout the entire day, when that last putt goes in you kind of release in a sense.

“I know that my WHOOP said the highest heart rate I had that day was on the podium.”

Gold medals are the gold standard of the Summer Games. But silver and bronze are coveted as well: Remember how Rory McIlroy famously said he’d “never tried so hard in my life to finish third” as he did when he fell short in that seven-man playoff for bronze in Tokyo?

Korda’s gold medal has its own shelf in the office in her home, along with a plaque, her badge and the Olympic trading pins she received. Nearby is another shelf for the 25-year-old’s two major championship trophies.

Korda and her older sister Jessica, who also competed in Tokyo, were following in the footsteps of their mother, Regina, who played tennis for Czechoslovakia in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. So, their family, more than most, understands the magnitude of representing your homeland.

“So, winning the gold, that's one thing, but even just being an Olympian and being able to compete in the Olympics is such a big honor,” says Korda, who will be leading the U.S. women in Paris. “It's only the girls in our family that hold that honor.

“Whenever I bring it around my friends and family they're always amazed, and they're really moved by the gold medal because they've never even seen it up close. Just seeing that impact of people being amazed and wowed by the gold medal has been really cool.”

The man who won gold in Tokyo, Xander Schauffele, has some Olympic genes, as well. His father, Stefan, was a talented decathlete with dreams of representing Germany in the Summer Games before a car accident ended the quest.

So, perhaps it was only fitting that Stefan, who also has served as Schauffele’s long-time coach, had dibs on the gold medal as the father and son celebrated with his maternal grandparents in a Tokyo hotel room.

“My dad slept with it, shirtless, I think, the first night,” said Schauffele, who goes to Paris among the favorites after wins at the PGA and Open Championship. “The first night it was ever in our care. I don't know if that's really taking great care of it, but my parents have it all the time.”

At first, Schauffele says, his parents “just paraded around town” with the medal. And Stefan just might have worn it at dinner sometimes, too.

“There was a guac(amole) stain somewhere on it and my mom got that out obviously for my dad eating some sort of California burrito or something,” he said. “I don't know. But something happened.”

Schauffele remembers his caddie, Austin Kaiser, taking the pin flag on the 18th hole for a souvenir. But he made sure his long-time friend and college teammate had another memento, too.

“I got him a gold ring,” said Schauffele, who famously waited for Kaiser to take the walk up to the 18th green at Royal Troon with him en route to winning The 152nd Open Championship. “He's got writing on it that says ‘Tokyo,’ and I don't think it says ‘caddie’ on it, but it's like a little thing for him to remember it as well.”

Justin Rose, the winner in 2016 when golf returned to the Olympic calendar after an absence of 112 years, traveled with his gold medal for several months. It’s now got a “place of pride” in Rose’s trophy cabinet.

The Englishman spent three nights in the Olympic Village and walked in the opening ceremonies. He said he found it “incredibly inspirational” to interact with athletes from other sports. He’s also kept quite a bit of his Team Great Britain gear.

“I couldn't give it away. It was such a special week,” Rose said. “Obviously I've signed bits and pieces and signed this, but I've kept a couple of special pieces for myself. … And I think when you retire and you're able to really go back and reminisce and look back on your career, some of those keepsakes I've got from Rio will be front and center for me.”

While Schauffele got to spend some time with Michael Phelps at a golf tournament after winning his gold medal, Rose may have the best celebrity story. He was celebrating after his win, and there was dancing involved, as well as music from his friend Justin Timberlake.

“I don’t know if we said, ‘Oh, let's call JT,’ but JT called me, but he was with Jimmy Fallon and that was just such a surreal kind of experience,” said Rose with a broad grin on his face. “They were so happy for me, even though they're American, and obviously they're friends, but they were just so cool.

“Listen, we all try to achieve something, but at the end of the day, I think the Olympic medal represents something, again, even wider than our own nations. It kind of brings a lot of people together and people just love to see it and touch it and want to take a photograph with it, whether it's a bronze or silver or a gold, it's just something that seems to resonate with people.

“So yeah, I remember us having a really fun kind of evening, and we were jumping around dancing a lot and yeah, I'm sure I had tons and tons of messages, but having had actually a FaceTime with him was a pretty cool thing.”