Winter Olympics officials have introduced a ‘targeted fix’ following complaints from athletes about their medals breaking.
Imagine dedicating years to training and competing at the Olympics, only to have your hard-earned medal break soon after receiving it. It’s understandable why this would be frustrating.
Several athletes, including Team USA’s Breezy Johnson, have reported issues with their medals.
Johnson revealed to the media that after her gold medal victory in the women’s downhill alpine skiing event on February 8, her medal split into two – far from ideal.
Similarly, German biathlete Justus Strelow experienced his bronze medal detaching from its ribbon.
Milano Cortina 2026 Chief Games Operations Officer Andrea Francisi addressed the media on Monday (February 9): “We are aware of the situation. We have seen the images. Obviously, we are trying to understand in detail if there is a problem.
“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.”
During a regular Milano Cortina briefing, Olympics spokesperson Luca Casassa confirmed that there are ‘issues affecting a small number of medals’. He added that the ‘organising committee’ has ‘immediately reviewed the matter’ and is ‘working closely with the State Mint, which produced the medals’.
Reassuringly for medal winners, Casassa stated: “A solution has been identified, and a targeted fix has been put in place.”
The spokesperson urged athletes whose medals have been ‘affected’ to ‘return them through the appropriate channels so that they can be promptly repaired and returned’.
He mentioned that, as a precaution, the committee would be ‘rechecking all of the medals to ensure that the athletes’ joy can truly be 360 degrees when they achieve something so precious and important for them, and also for us, the supporters’.
He concluded: “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.”
This isn’t the first time Olympic medals have been reported as breaking.
During the 2024 Paris Olympics, the French outlet La Lettre reported that over 100 athletes had to return their bronze, silver, or gold medals within six months.