“Is this thing gonna stay together?” Photo: Associated Press // YouTube
It must sting a little to reach the pinnacle of achievement in your sport only to have the symbol of that achievement promptly fall apart. That’s exactly what’s been happening to multiple athletes at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games.
A defect in the awards’ design has led to multiple instances of the prizes falling off of athletes’ necks. “It came apart,” explained women’s downhill ski gold medalist Breezy Johnson in a press conference, as she held up the separated ribbon and medal. “Don’t jump in them. I was jumping in excitement and it broke. I’m sure somebody will fix it. It’s not like crazy broken, but it’s a little broken.”
German biathlete Justus Strelow’s medal even managed to break apart on camera in front of a crowd of celebrants.
“We are aware of the situation. We have seen the images. Obviously we are trying to understand in detail if there is a problem,” Andrea Francisi, the chief Games operations officer for the Milan Cortina organizing committee, said Monday. “But 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.”
In the following days, a fix appears to have been found. “A solution was identified and a targeted intervention was implemented,” said Milano Cortina 2026 Communications Director Luca Casassa. She added that not all of the medals suffered the defect, and that athletes with broken medals could send them in for repair.
Though officials did not clarify what exactly the issue was, Reuters reports that “a source close to the situation” told them it may have been a breakaway mechanism built into the clasp, which is required by law to avoid strangulation or injury.
