The gold medals awarded at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics were the heaviest ever, weighing in at 20.6 ounces. Jessie Diggins didn't notice it at first, when she stood on a podium in the South Korean mountains with her newly won prize around her neck.
She actually felt a bit lighter that February night, when she and U.S. teammate Kikkan Randall won their country's first Olympic gold in cross-country skiing. But after the medal was stashed away, Diggins began to understand its symbolic weight. Being an Olympic champion brought greater expectations and higher visibility, a load that would only get heavier as the Beijing Winter Games approached.
Or not.
