Live Updates: Winter Olympics, Chloe Kim has impressive halfpipe qualification run and medals aplenty on Day 5
In case you missed this news, some Olympic medals have broken as soon as athletes have gotten their hands on the coveted rewards. Women’s downhill champion Breezy Johnson was the first to find out that some medals have issues when the ribbon broke off her gold medal while she was celebrating.
Does Johnson have advice for those fortunate enough to make the podium?
“Yeah. Don’t jump in them,” she explained at a press conference. “I was jumping in excitement, and it broke. I’m sure somebody will fix it. It’s not crazy broken, but it’s a little broken.”
Johnson later pulled out her prize and showed how the medal itself, the ribbon, the joint between the ribbon and the medal all split apart.
Johnson, who won downhill gold on Sunday, showed the media how her medal, the ribbon and the joint between them split apart.
The issue surfaced again when US figure skater Alysa Liu posted a video on social media showing that her medal had also separated from the ribbon.
Later on, German biathlete Justus Strelow suffered the same fate with his teammate Philipp Nawrath saying, “Justus immediately took advantage of (us having a party) to jump and dance again. Unfortunately, the medal broke at that moment.”
Milan Cortina organizers told CNN they identified a solution, saying, “a targeted fix has been put in place.”
“Athletes who’s medals have been affected, are encouraged to return them through the appropriate channels so that they can be promptly repaired and returned. Milano Cortina 2026 remains fully committed to ensuring that medals, which represent the pinnacle of every athlete’s journey, meet the highest standards of quality and care,” they added.
Johnson herself did later say she got a new medal: “I have to get it engraved though, so that needs to happen.”
