The Medals: Where Did They Go?

By Michael Wetzel

If you won an Olympic medal, where would you keep it? In a bank vault? In your curio cabinet at home? Two U.S. Olympians own Olympic medals they won while playing for Yugoslavia in 1988. Where are those ribbon-laced mementos?

A 17-year-old Yugoslavian, then-Jasna Fazlic, teamed with Gordana Perkucin to capture a bronze medal in the Olympics which first featured table tennis. But it’s been a dozen years since now-Jasna Reed has been able to adore the sheen of her bronze medal she won in women’s doubles at the 1988 Seoul Games. She gave the medal to her proud grandmother who cared for it at her home in Foca, Bosnia-Herzegovina. Then, in 1992, the prized possession became a spoil of war. Gun-toting Serb soldiers entered Foca and ordered the residents to leave immediately.

“It was at my grandmother’s house and she had to flee quickly,” Reed said in Atlanta, minutes after qualifying to play women’s doubles in the Olympics again. “I guess the soldiers or whoever took over the house have it.” She chooses not to talk about the politics of the war in Bosnia, but adds, “People know I won it. I don’t have to show it to prove it.” She said the loss of her grandmother, who died that same year, was a much greater loss than losing the medal.

Looking ahead, Jasna, going to her third Olympics, now sees herself in her then-doubles partner Perkucin. “She was much older than me when we won,” 33-year-old Jasna said. “I was 17. She was mature and able to keep me calm during our contests.” Jasna’s doubles partner in Athens this summer is 17-year-old Whitney Ping of Beaverton, Ore.

The Fazlic/Perkucin team lost to the silver-medal team of Jian Zhimin/Chen Jing of China 2-1 in the semifinals. The team rebounded to beat a Japanese pair for the bronze. The pair later teamed to win the women’s doubles at 1992 European Championships in Stuttgart, Germany.

Ranked 115 in the world, Jasna said it has been about 10 years since she last spoke with Perkucin. “We used to talk a lot, but we lost contact when she moved to Italy and married.”

The other U.S. player with an Olympic table tennis medal is Ilija Lupulesku, ranked 109 in the world. In those same Seoul Games, Lupulesku, then 19, paired with Zoran Primorac to take home the silver medal in men’s doubles. The team lost 2-1 to China’s Chen Longcan and Wei Qingguang in the finals. Lupi says his silver medal is on a trophy shelf in his living room in his Chicago home. A many-time champion in Europe, Lupi only displays a few of his awards. When asked if the silver medal is his most cherished trophy, the 36-year-old quickly replied, “Of course.”

A competitor in the past four Olympics, Lupulesku qualified to play doubles with Mark Hazinski of Mishawaka, Ind., at the Atlanta Trials. He previously qualified for singles with his second-place finish at the Vancouver Trials.