Here’s why Tokyo Olympics gold medallist wore a Witcher medallion – Times of India

Russian athlete Vitalina Batsarashkina clinched the gold medal in the 10m air pistol event at the Tokyo Olympics 2020. She has only bettered her record with the feat as in the Rio Olympics, in 2016, she had won the silver. These are great milestones for her, no doubt, but we are not finished yet.
Actually, both the times, she had competed while wearing something related to The Witcher series of books written by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, that reached new heights of popularity after their video game adaptations by CD Projekt Red. In the last Olympics, it was a Witcher medallion hanging from her pants and some Witcher illustrations on her shooting glasses and this time she wore it around her neck, as per a report by Kotaku.
Lucky charm or pure fandom? You are free to guess. But fandom there certainly is. In case you haven’t read the books or played the games or watched the TV show, let’s just say that the medallions given to the Witchers trained from various schools in the books are magical artifacts, designed to alert them of danger. For instance, whenever Geralt of Rivia, the lead protagonist of the Witcher series, is near a monster he’s gone hunting for, the medallion he wears around his neck begins to vibrate, alerting him of danger lurking close by. In Batsarashkina’s case, danger may not have been there but there certainly was the challenge to get the gold this time, which she passed with flying colours. The White Wolf will be pleased.