le vs. la

Question

The sentence, "Pourtant, elle le méritait vraiment", refers to something in the previous sentence, which is "Surya n’a jamais gagné de médaille d'or aux Jeux Olympiques, ce qui est vraiment dommage."  The 'le' is used instead of 'la' because it refers to gaining the gold medal, a masculine reference, as opposed to "la médaille d'or", a feminine reference.  Is that the correct interpretation as to why 'le' is used ?

Céline Pickard · Accepted Answer

Bonjour Frank,
C'est tout à fait ça ! Bravo !
You're absolutely right that the "le" in "elle le méritait vraiment" refers back to the concept mentioned in the previous sentence, which is "winning a gold medal at the Olympic Games". Hence, the use of the neutral pronoun "le" in the sentence regardless of the gender of any related nouns.
Using neuter pronouns le or l' to refer to previously mentioned ideas (French Direct Object Pronouns)
Bonne journée !