Emotions always run high during the Olympics as hypercompetitive athletes look to accomplish their lifelong dreams.
But apparently, United States women’s basketball star A’ja Wilson showed a bit too much emotion according to one Paris Olympics official, who reportedly told her to tone down her emotions after going back to look at a replay during Team USA’s win over Belgium on Thursday night.
“I need to, get my emotions in check (he said), and I think that just heightened my emotions even more because I’m like, ‘How are you going to tell me at my job that I can’t show emotion, passion?’” Wilson said according to a report from the Associated Press. “So I keep my cool. I continue being me. I keep my cool by understanding who I am and who I have around me, and don’t look back and just keep going.”
Wilson ultimately finished the game with a double-double, scoring 23 points with 13 rebounds. She told the AP that she doesn’t plan to do anything differently when the United States faces off against Germany in its next game on Sunday.
“I’m not going to let a defender think that they stopped me. I don’t think I’m ever going to let them off the hook,” she said. “And that’s what I got to keep doing. So to that ref, I’m going to keep yelling. I’m gonna keep screaming. I’m gonna keep fussing, cussing anywhere in-between cheering. Because that’s the game that I play.”
It’s clear that whatever it was that bothered the official, Wilson intends to play her usual game moving forward as she looks to help lead the U.S. to another gold medal after doing so in Tokyo.
