Gold Medal is the sixth studio album by American rock band the Donnas, released on 26 October 2004 through Atlantic Records.

Leading up to an appearance at the Lollapalooza 2003 festival, drummer Torry Castellano suffered from De Quervain Tendonitis, prompting wrist surgery.

Gold Medal received generally favourable reviews from music critics, some praising the band's musicianship and specifically highlighting Robertson's guitar playing, while others felt it lacked lyrical substance.

[3] Around this time, the band's label Atlantic Records was undergoing personnel changes stemming from the company's owner Warner Music Group switching investors.

[2] The band met with several people, before landing on Scott Litt; they travelled from the Bay Area to Los Angeles to start pre-production with him in January 2004.

[10] Gold Medal continues the hard rock sound of Spend the Night; while influences from AC/DC and the Ramones can still be heard, the band also incorporate portions from Alice Cooper, Golden Earring and Steppenwolf.

[11][12] Uncut writer Stephen Dalton described it as 1970s rock "pastiche meets revved-up sugar-rush melodies, cynical teen-romance lyrics and knowingly dumb sexual innuendo".

[13] Bassist Maya Ford Spend the Night was "all fast and hard [...] we limited ourselves"; for Gold Medal, they decided they "should do just what ever we want to do and experiment".

[14] They collaborated together instead of letting one individual do a bulk of the writing, resulting in a more melodic sound, aided by Walker's past production work with Lavigne and Simple Plan.

[18][19] "Fall Behind Me" recalls the band's earlier sound, while being compared to the work of the Cult; it starts off akin to Status Quo, switching to "Rocket Queen" (1987) by Guns N' Roses.

[13] On August 9, 2004, Gold Medal was announced for release in two months' time; a few days later, a music video was filmed for "Fall Behind Me" in Los Angeles, California.

[30][31] Warner Music Group provided the affected song on the band's website and allowed buyers to return it for a standard CD copy.

[36] AllMusic reviewer Zac Johnson said that what the band "lack in 'wall of sound' noise attack they've made up for in nuance; the basslines have never been more intricate, [...] and the whole album sports the most terrific production of any Donnas record to date".

[42] Entertainment Weekly writer David Browne added to this: "With their well-scrubbed sound [...] and Anderson's evenkeeled delivery, the Donnas are now a likable, proficient band".

[11] Anthony Miccio of Stylus Magazine added to this by writing that they seem "incapable of playing in anything but the key of badass", and The Japan Times' Philip Brasor said it relied more on "craft than attitude".

[41][43] The staff at Pitchfork wrote that Robertson's guitarwork has improved with each subsequent release, "gut here she's really tearing it up, giving Gold Medal a more dynamic feel".

[13] The Austin Chronicle's Christopher Gray praised the members for being confident musicians, however, they had switched from "carefree party girls to jaded cynics practically overnight".

[46] Rock Hard reviewer Marcus Schleutermann wrote that what they had "undoubtedly gained in profile," they had "lost the obvious hit factor".