Olympic officials 'working on it' as multiple athletes report that their medals are breaking
Olympic medals are breaking.Β
Olympic officials say they're "working on it."
U.S. skier Breezy Johnson first noted the faulty medals after her gold-medal run in Sunday's alpine downhill competition. Johnson showed off her broken medal during her post-race news conference and told reporters that it fell apart from its ribbon as she was celebrating.
"I don't know that the Italians are known for their engineering," she told reporters. "I assume someone will fix it.β
Johnson also added a warning for her fellow medal winners.Β
"Don't jump in them," she said.
More broken medals
On Monday, U.S. figure skater Alysa Liu posted social video of her detached medal after securing gold alongside her teammates in Sunday's team final. She didn't seem too upset about it.Β
"My medal don't need the ribbon," Liu captioned while posting video of herself smiling with her medal and detached ribbon in opposite hands.Β
Liu didn't detail how hers became detached.
There's video evidence, meanwhile, of German biathlete Justus Strelow's medal falling apart from its ribbon. Strelow won his medal Sunday with his teammates in the mixed relay competition. As he jumped in celebration with his teammates, the medal fell from around his neck with a clang onto the tile floor below.Β
The medal mishap didn't appear to hinder the celebration.
German biathlete Justus Strelow's bronze medal detaches from its ribbon during exuberant team celebrations after their mixed relay win at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.#WinterOlympics#winterolympics2026pic.twitter.com/itL3MrS3qY
β aniruddha banerjee (@aniruddha163) February 9, 2026
It appears that all of the medals are breaking in the same manner. The bar that attaches medals to their ribbons is breaking away, and the medals are then falling to the ground away from the ribbons. Olympic officials have gotten the memo.Β
Olympic committee is 'working on it'
Andrea Francisi, the chief games operations officer for the Milan Cortina organizing committee, told the Associated Press on Monday that officials were working on a solution.
βWe are aware of the situation, we have seen the images," Francisi said. "Obviously we are trying to understand in detail if there is a problem.
βBut 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.β
What "working on it" means isn't exactly clear from Francisi's statement. But there appears to be good news for those athletes with broken medals.Β

Johnson says she got a new, intact medal
It wasn't initially clear on Sunday if Johnson's medal would be replaced. Johnson confirmed late Sunday night to NBC that, indeed, she was given a new one. She just has to do some extra legwork to get it personalized.Β
"I was jumping, and the whole ribbon came off of the medal. And then they tried to fix it, but they couldnβt. So they gave me this one instead, and I have to go get it engraved," Johnson said, while showing off her new medal on NBC's late night Olympic show."
Johnson added that her medal broke within 15 minutes of receiving it.
βI donβt know if I have very many Olympic records," Johnson continued. "But I might have the shortest-lived Olympic medal record."
She also had a backup plan just in case the Olympic committee didn't replace her broken hardware:
βI was pretty sure that they would replace or fix it," she said. "Or, like, my dadβs a carpenter, so I was pretty sure we could do something about it."