Gold medallist USA's Breezy Johnson shows her broken medal to the media following the Women's Alpine Downhill Skiing at the 2026 Winter Olympics. Photo / Getty Images
Gold medallist USA's Breezy Johnson shows her broken medal to the media following the Women's Alpine Downhill Skiing at the 2026 Winter Olympics. Photo / Getty Images
Winter Olympics organisers have launched an investigation into broken medals for the second Games running after several athletes reported issues with ribbon clips.
The medals of at least four Olympic athletes have snapped within minutes of receiving them after they came apart from the attached ribbon.
American skier Breezy Johnson,who won Sunday’s women’s downhill alpine gold, revealed that her medal broke shortly after receiving it on the podium when she was jumping up and down in celebration.
“So there’s the medal. And there’s the ribbon,” Johnson told reporters in Livigno. “And here’s the little piece that is supposed to go into the ribbon to hold the medal, and yeah, it came apart.”
She added: “It is heavy, it’s broken. I was jumping up and down in excitement, then it just fell off.”
Johnson’s American teammate Alysa Liu, who was part of the victorious US figure skating outfit that claimed gold in the team event, suffered from a similar issue.
“My medal don’t need the ribbon,” Liu said in an Instagram post.
The United States team have not been the only athletes to be affected by the defective medals. Germany’s biathlon athlete Justus Strelow, who claimed bronze on Sunday as part of the team event, suffered a similar fate during their celebrations that were caught on camera.
Sweden’s cross-country skier Ebba Andersson’s silver prize from the women’s skiathlon suffered a similar fate.
“The medal fell in the snow and broke in two,” Andersson said, according to Swedish broadcaster SVT. “Now I hope the organisers have a ‘Plan B’ for broken medals.”
One theory is that Italian law may be to blame. A source claimed that the medals have been made with a built-in breakaway mechanism to prevent individuals from being choked, but that has resulted in the metal becoming detached during exuberant celebrations when force is applied to the attachment cord.
Organisers confirmed on Monday that they are looking into the issues to prevent similar problems from recurring throughout the Games.
“We are fully aware of the situation,” said Andrea Francisi, Milan-Cortina 2026 chief games operations officer. “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.”
However, it has not yet been confirmed if those medal winners already affected will receive replacements.
The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee declined to comment and will await further updates from organisers in the hope of a quick fix.
The medals feature “discs of ice” that are made up of two halves that join through the Olympic and Paralympic symbols. The halves represent the individual athlete and network behind their success, made up of family, team and coaches. They also have two different textures, a frosted and polished one.
The issue is nothing in comparison with the problems athletes suffered at the 2024 Summer Games, where more than 200 reported that their medals were wearing away just weeks after receiving them.
Olympians Clement Secchi and Yohann Ndoye-Brouard, bronze medallists in Paris 2024, shared photos of the current condition of their medals. Photos / Instagram
In total, 220 athletes – around 4% of the total number of medal recipients – applied for replacements by February last year after seeing the surfaces deteriorate.
