Olympians reveal their medals are breaking and it’s not the first time it’s happened
Athletes taking part at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics are speaking out about a peculiar issue affecting their medals.
The Olympians that have won medals in their sport have complained their medals are breaking within just a few hours of receiving them.
Breezy Johnson, a women’s downhill ski gold medalist, revealed her medal broke following her win on Sunday.
“Don’t jump in them,” she warned. “I was jumping in excitement, and it broke. I’m sure somebody will fix it. It’s not crazy broken, but a little broken.”
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Meanwhile, biathlete Justus Strelow realised that the bronze medal he won in the mixed relay on Sunday had fallen off the ribbon around his neck.
The moment was broadcast on German TV and showed as the medal fell to the floor as he danced and celebrated with his teammates.
He even tried to reattach the medal to the ribbon to no avail.
And US figure skater Alysa Liu shared a clip on social media of her team event gold medal detached from its ribbon.
Organisers of the games are now investigating the shocking reports with 'maximum attention'. Andrea Francisi, the chief games operations officer for the Milan Cortina organising committee, said: “We are aware of the situation, we have seen the images. Obviously, we are trying to understand in detail if there is a problem.”
“But obviously 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 the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee told BBC Sport they are awaiting action from event organisers. It remains unclear whether athletes will be issued replacement medals.
In other news, another athlete who has had huge success this season is Ilia Malinin. During his free skate in the team competition on Sunday, the 21-year-old American pulled off a backflip (his second so far this year) and somehow managed to land on one leg.
He won a gold medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics in the figure skating team event as part of Team USA. And in case you were wondering, there are no reports of it breaking.
Malinin's performance made headlines because of the backflip, which had been an illegal move for 50 years. It was banned from figure skating for nearly 50 years. This rule came into action after American skater Terry Kubicka became the first athlete to perform one at the 1976 Innsbruck Games.
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