MILAN — Handle with care. This is the advice from gold medalist Breezy Johnson at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics after she and fellow athletes discovered their medals had broken just hours after being awarded.
Olympic organizers are conducting an investigation with “maximum attention” following reports of several medals detaching from their ribbons during the festivities of the opening weekend.
“Don’t jump in them. I was jumping with excitement, and it broke,” stated women’s downhill ski gold medalist Johnson after her victory on Sunday. “I’m sure someone will fix it. It’s not badly broken, just a little bit.”
The television broadcast in Germany captured the moment biathlete Justus Strelow realized his mixed relay bronze medal had fallen from the ribbon around his neck and clattered to the floor as he celebrated with teammates.
The German team cheered as Strelow attempted to reattach the medal, only to discover that a smaller piece, presumably the clasp, had broken off and remained on the ground.
U.S. figure skater Alysa Liu shared a clip on social media showcasing her team event gold medal, detached from its ribbon.
“My medal doesn’t need the ribbon,” Liu wrote early Monday.
Andrea Francisi, the chief games operations officer for the Milan Cortina organizing committee, mentioned they are actively working on a solution.
“We are aware of the situation. We have seen the images. Clearly, we are trying to fully understand if there is an issue,” Francisi said Monday. “We are paying maximum attention to this matter, as the medal represents the dream of the athletes, and we want everything to be perfect in that moment, which we consider to be the most important. So we are addressing it.”
This isn’t the first instance where the quality of Olympic medals has been called into question.
Following the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, some medals had to be replaced after athletes reported they began to tarnish or corrode, developing a mottled appearance likened to crocodile skin.
