Winter Olympians reveal how medals are already breaking just days into Milan games
Callum Jones
Featured Image Credit: Andy Cheung/Getty
More than 100 allegedly faulty Olympic medals were returned during Paris 2024, and the trend doesn't appear to be stopping in Italy.
From an outsider looking in, you'd think an Olympic medal would be the best quality and most durable medal on the planet, but athletes at the Milano Cortina games are telling a different story.
French outlet La Lettre reported over 100 athletes who claimed either bronze, silver or gold at the Paris summer games had returned them within six months.
And the problems with medals appear to have continued this year.
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Team USA's Breezy Johnson confirmed to press that her gold medal she won in the women’s downhill alpine skiing event on Sunday (February 8) had split into two parts.
“So there’s the medal. And there’s the ribbon,” the Olympian told assembled reporters. "And here’s the little piece that is supposed to go into the ribbon to hold the medal. And yeah, it came apart.”
In a similar case, German biathlete Justus Strelow was celebrating with his teammates when he realised the bronze medal he had just won had fallen off the ribbon around his neck onto the floor.
Alysa Liu, a Team USA figure skater, also had the same problem as she detailed her bust medal on Instagram.
She captioned the short clip: "My medal don’t need the ribbon. Proud of the team."
Officials at the Olympics have since addressed the controversy surrounding the medals and say they are working on a fix.
Milano Cortina 2026 Chief Games Operations Officer Andrea Francisi told press on Monday (February 9): "We are aware of the situation. We have seen the images. Obviously, we are trying to understand in detail if there is a problem.
"We are paying maximum attention to this matter, as the medal is the dream of the athletes, so we want that obviously in the moment they are given it that everything is absolutely perfect, because we really consider it to be the most important moment. So we are working on it."
A spokesperson for Paris 2024 said at the time they would be sending replacement medals to the athletes reporting problems, so it'll be intriguing to see if something similar happens with the games in Milan.