19. That is the number of days in between an NBA championship and an Olympic gold medal for Milwaukee Bucks point guard Jrue Holiday. 397. That is the number of days from 2014-2015 it took Lauren Holiday, wife of Jrue, to win back-to-back NWSL Championships with FC Kansas City. Oh, not to mention the World Cup win with United States Women’s National Team that she snuck in between those championships. Talk about power couple.
Gold medals are something Lauren Holiday, formerly Lauren Cheney, is familiar with as well. In her 8 year career with the United States Women’s National soccer team, Lauren was apart of the roster for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, as well as the 2012 London games. She was 2-for-2 on gold medals, a stat line her husband will hopefully look to recreate when the 2024 Olympic games come around.
The Golden Holidays 🥇
Jrue Holiday joins his wife in winning an Olympic gold medal. Lauren has two gold medals, one from Beijing & one from London.#TokyoOlympics | #RelationshipGoals pic.twitter.com/kyG1Jhzy9o
— On Her Turf (@OnHerTurf) August 7, 2021
Team USA Basketball were heavy favorites to win gold prior to the games. However, with a couple hiccups that brought on two exhibition game loses to Nigeria and Australia, many became doubtful. Jrue was a bit busy winning the NBA finals and missed out on the exhibition games. He joined the team in Tokyo just 1 night before their first tipoff. Coming off a season that included first team all-NBA defensive honors, an Eastern Conference Championship, and an NBA Championship, Jrue came into the Olympics ready to continue his hot streak.
Jrue Holiday did just that, averaging 12.3 points, four rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.7 steals. He produced the best all-around performance on Team USA. Kevin Durant, Holiday’s Team USA teammate, was probably thankful to have Jrue on his side of the ball this time after the playoff series versus the Brooklyn Nets. Durant has been quoted in the past highlighting Jrue as the NBA’s best defender. Coming from whom many believe to be the best player in the world right now, this type of praise has not gone unnoticed.
To solidify the dominance of the Holiday family at the Olympics, Jrue made a gesture to his Olympic champion wife. He rocked the number 12. The same number that Lauren wore throughout her career at the international soccer stage and the club soccer level.
Lauren…and now Jrue Holiday…
Olympic Gold Medalists 🥇 pic.twitter.com/GP8wpmO55y— Fletcher Mackel (@FletcherWDSU) August 7, 2021
The Holidays have quite the track record when it comes to winning. Lauren has a slight edge that is surely is held over his head. Luckily for him, his wife retired back in 2015. Luckily for Bucks fans, we wouldn’t mind a few more championships.
Jrue Holiday has had quite the summer. Some much needed R&R, rest and relaxation, are in order. But for now, let’s look forward to the 2040 Olympics when his kids are the ones winning the gold medals.
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3 Comments
I loved the way you put this into perspective, it was entertaining and informational! Anyways super proud of them. Cant wait to read more..
This was a great read phoebe.
Love this family! You did a great job showing the accomplishments of Lauren and Jrue.