Milan Cortina 2026: Broken Medals The Downside But Organizers To Investigate Why
The Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics have hit a bump in the road with a series of broken medals, raising concerns among athletes and organizers.
Several Olympic champions, including Breezy Johnson and Alysa Liu of the USA, reported issues with their gold medals, with the ribbon detaching soon after the prize was awarded.
Breezy Johnson, who triumphed in the women’s downhill alpine skiing event, was the first to bring attention to the issue.
At the post-event press conference, she displayed her broken medal, showing how the ribbon came loose from the medal.
“So there’s the medal. And there’s the ribbon,” she explained. “And here’s the little piece that is supposed to go into the ribbon to hold the medal, and yeah, it came apart.”
Alysa Liu, part of the U.S. figure skating team, also shared her experience on social media, revealing how her medal had a similar fault. In a video, Liu held up her gold medal and the detached ribbon, with the caption:
“My medal don’t need the ribbon.”
The medal mishap didn’t stop with American athletes. The German biathlon team, who secured a bronze medal, experienced a similar problem when one of the athletes’ medals fell off the ribbon while celebrating at their hotel. A video posted on Instagram showed the athlete jubilantly jumping up and down before the medal detached.
The Milan-Cortina 2026 organizing committee has responded swiftly, acknowledging the issue and launching an investigation into the cause.
Andrea Francisi, the Chief Games Operations Officer for Milan-Cortina 2026, confirmed they are looking into the problem.
“We are fully aware of the situation,” said Francisi. “We are looking into exactly what the problem is. We are going to pay particular 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.”