Wesleyan table tennis head coach Jasna Rather received a replacement Olympic medal Oct. 24 at a ceremony at Wesleyan’s Sid Richardson Center. The replacement medal took the place of a lost bronze medal Rather won in the 1988 Summer Olympics, which were held in Seoul, South Korea.
That summer, Rather was representing her home country of Yugoslavia in the women’s doubles table tennis event. She took home the bronze with teammate Gordana Perkucin but would soon find her home in political turmoil.
Rather fled her home country in 1995, leaving behind the Olympic medal in her hometown of Foca, Bosnia, in the home of her grandmother. Her grandmother passed away shortly before war broke out. Armies were quick to take possession of the home and all of its belongings.
“I have no idea where the medal might be today,” Rather said.
She continued to play table tennis in Japan before permanently relocating to the U.S. in 1996. She obtained a bachelor’s degree in political science from Oakland University in Michigan and earned her master’s in education from Texas Wesleyan before becoming head coach in 2006.
The ceremony, which also featured members of the 2009 National Intercollegiate Champions receiving rings honoring their championship season last spring, was held during the annual Texas Wesleyan Open.
Members of the student body, faculty and staff as well as local media were in attendance for the emotional ceremony, at which Texas Wesleyan President Harold Jeffcoat spoke and explained how he made numerous phone calls to the U.S. Olympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee in search of answers for the lost medal. “There’s no way our table tennis coach won’t have her Olympic medal,” Jeffcoat said.
Eventually he was able to get in contact with someone who had a cast of the 1988 medal and quickly had a replacement sent.
Rather isn’t sure what to do with her new medal but will probably keep it on campus, possibly on display. “All I know is that I plan not to lose it,” she chuckled.
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