Geraint Hughes
Sports News Correspondent
Winter Olympics broken medals: Which athletes have been impacted in Milan, what is the problem and what is being done?
Organisers are investigating reported issues with Olympic medals detaching from their ribbons; women's downhill champion Breezy Johnson revealed her medal had separated during her post-race celebrations, while figure skater Alysa Liu posted a clip on social media of her detached medal
Last Updated: 10/02/26 8:22am
It seems it wouldn't be an Olympic Games without a story to do with the athletes' medals!
Remember Paris 2024 and the tarnished and sometimes substandard medals there? Well it looks like Milan Cortina 2026 also have a medal issue on their hands to deal with.
It first came to light almost straight after the women's downhill had ended, where most people were concentrating on how Lindsey Vonn was after her horrific crash rather than the event won by her team-mate Breezy Johnson.
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Johnson revealed in her press conference, not long after she had received her medal, that it had already started to come apart.
"So there's the medal," Johnson said. "And there's the ribbon and here's the little piece that is supposed to go into the ribbon to hold the medal. Yeah, it came apart!"
She added: "Don't jump in them. I was jumping in excitement, and it broke… It's not crazy broken, but a little broken."
Johnson's USA team-mate Alysa Liu also suffered the same misfortune, but it's understood both athletes have now received replacements - that will hopefully stay in one piece.
It appears that the ribbon that attaches to the metal and the gold, silver or bronze part is breaking. It's not only Johnson and Liu who have had this problem, but it's understood the German team have had an issue as well.
Biathlete Justus Stretlow was celebrating his success when he noticed the clasp holding the ribbon to the medal had broken loose.
Olympic organisers are very much aware of the issue now. Back at their Milan HQ, Andrea Francisi from the Milano-Cortina organising committee said: "We are fully aware of the situation and we are looking into exactly what the problem is.
"You all saw the pictures. We are looking into exactly what the problem is. We are going to pay maximum attention to the medals, and obviously this is something we want to be perfect when the medal is handed over because this is one of the most important moments for the athletes."
It's an issue organisers could do without, especially given the embarrassment Paris 2024 organisers felt when their medals began to discolour. The French Mint made around 5000 medals for those Games and, to date, over 200 athletes have had to return their original medals for replacements.
