Milano Cortina 2026 organisers have been forced to investigate issues with Winter Olympic medals felling off from their ribbons. A controversy IOC would have wanted to avoid.
The Winter Olympics 2026 in Milano-Cortina has earned a bad name recently, with medals breaking as athletes celebrate their historic moments. The situation is so bad that the Games organisers have been forced to launch an investigation.
“We are fully aware of the situation and you have seen the pictures,” Milano Cortina Chief Games Operations Officer Andrea Francisi said on Monday. “We are looking into what exactly the problem is.
“We will pay maximum attention to the medals … so that everything will be perfect because this is one of the most important things for the athletes.”
The pressure on the organisers was built after multiple athletes complained about chipped medals. So far, USA downhill skiing champion Breezy Johnson, American figure skating gold medallist Alysa Liu, German biathlete bronze medal winner Justus Strelow and Sweden’s cross-country silver medallist Ebba Andersson are among the prominent names who have complained about defective medals.
“Don’t jump in them. I was jumping in excitement, and it broke,” Johnson said after her win Sunday. “I’m sure somebody will fix it. It’s not crazy broken, but a little broken.”
While most have complained about damage to the medals, some have also highlighted the ribbon coming off the medal.
Strelow’s medal was damaged when he was dancing in celebration. The bronze medal fell off the ribbon around his neck, and was damaged after falling on the floor. The whole incident was captured on live TV in Germany.
US figure skater Alysa Liu has posted a clip on Instagram, showing how her gold medal has been detached from its official ribbon.
“My medal don’t need the ribbon,” Liu wrote Monday.
Why are Winter Olympics medals breaking?
A source has explained to Reuters that the problem could be arising from the medals’ cord, which is fitted with a breakaway mechanism required by law. It has been designed in a way that the cord can be released automatically when pulled with force. The idea is that such a mechanism would prevent the wearer from getting choked.
For the unversed, the Winter Olympics medals have a clean-cut design. It represents the “discs of ice” made of two halves that join through the Olympic and Paralympic symbols in the middle.
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 gold medals weigh about 500 grams (1.1 pounds) – as much as the silver medals – and contain 6 grams of gold. The bronze medals are slightly lighter at 420 grams.
Frankly speaking, it is a controversy that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) could have lived without. They faced a similar controversy during the 2024 Paris Olympics, when 200 medals had to be replaced due to different types of defects.
With agency inputs
End of Article
