Milan-Cortina 2026 organisers say they are “looking closely” at why Olympic medals are breaking after troubling early reports.
Several athletes experienced unexpected issues shortly after receiving their prizes, raising concerns around presentation standards.
Two of the USA’s gold medallists, Breezy Johnson and Alysa Liu, revealed the ribbon had come away from the medal soon after presentation.
Johnson, who won the women’s downhill alpine skiing, displayed the damage during her post-event media appearance.
“So there’s the medal. And there’s the ribbon,” she told reporters. “And here’s the little piece that is supposed to go into the ribbon to hold the medal, and yeah, it came apart.”
Liu disclosed a similar issue in a video on social media after winning figure skating team gold. The clip shows Liu holding medal and ribbon separately, captioned: “My medal don’t need the ribbon.”
The problem also affected Germany’s biathlon bronze medallists during celebrations at their team hotel.
An Instagram video shows a medal slipping free as athletes jumped together in celebration.
Organisers investigate as medal integrity takes centre stage
Andrea Francisi, Milan-Cortina 2026 chief games operations officer, confirmed an internal review is underway.
“We are fully aware of the situation,” Francisi said. “We are looking into exactly what the problem is.”
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“We are going to pay particular attention to the medals,” he added. “This is something we want to be perfect when the medal is handed over.”
It remains unclear whether affected athletes will receive replacement medals.
Concerns over medal durability are not unprecedented in recent Games history. As of February 2025, 220 replacement requests followed Paris 2024 due to wear and tear.
Diver Yasmin Harper previously noted her medal was already “tarnishing.” Paris 2024 organisers confirmed damaged medals would be replaced.
Tags: Milan-Cortina 2026, Olympic medals, Paris 2024, Andrea Francisi.
