Olympic athletes’ medals break during celebrations
MILAN (AP) — Handle with care. This is the message of Breezy Johnson, gold medalist to the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics after she and other athletes found their medals shattering within hours.
Olympic organizers are investigating with “maximum attention” after a series of medals fell from their ribbons during celebrations for the opening weekend of the Games.
“Don’t jump in. I was jumping with excitement, and it broke,” women’s alpine skiing gold medalist Johnson said after her victory Sunday. “I’m sure someone will fix it. It’s not completely broken, but a little broken.”
Television footage broadcast in Germany captured the moment biathlete Justus Strelow achieved the mixed relay The bronze medal he won Sunday had fallen off the ribbon around his neck and onto the ground as he danced to a song with his teammates.
His German teammates cheered as Strelow unsuccessfully attempted to reattach the medal before realizing that a smaller piece, apparently the clasp, had broken off and was still on the floor.
American figure skater Alysa Liu posted a clip on social media of her gold medal in the team event, detached from its official ribbon.
“My medal doesn’t need the ribbon,” Liu wrote early Monday.
Andrea Francisi, head of games operations at the Milan Cortina organizing committee, said the group was working on a solution.
“We are aware of the situation, we have seen the images. We are obviously trying to understand in detail if there is a problem,” Francisi said on Monday.
“But obviously we pay the greatest attention to this matter, because the medal is the dream of athletes, so we want that obviously, the moment she receives it, everything is absolutely perfect, because we really consider that it is the most important moment. That’s why we are working on it.”
This is not the first time that the quality of Olympic medals has come under scrutiny.
After the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, some medals had to be replaced after athletes complained, they would begin to tarnish or corrode, giving them a mottled appearance comparable to crocodile skin.
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AP Sports Writer Daniella Matar in Milan and Andrew Dampf in Cortina D’Ampezzo, Italy, contributed to this report.
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
