Athletes’ Excitement Leads to Medal Damage
MILAN — Olympic gold medalist Breezy Johnson warned fans to handle their medals carefully after she and other athletes discovered their awards had broken within hours of receiving them at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.
Celebrations turned tricky when medals detached from ribbons or suffered minor damage. Organizers are now investigating the issue closely to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
Breezy Johnson Shares Her Experience
“Don’t jump in them. I was jumping in excitement, and it broke,” Johnson said after winning the women’s downhill ski gold medal. She added that the damage was minor and expected to be fixed quickly.
Other Athletes Also Affected
TV footage from Germany showed biathlete Justus Strelow’s mixed relay bronze medal falling off its ribbon while he celebrated with teammates. Attempts to reattach it failed, as a small part, likely the clasp, broke off and fell to the floor.
U.S. figure skater Alysa Liu also posted on social media about her team event gold medal detaching from the official ribbon. “My medal don’t need the ribbon,” Liu humorously captioned her video.
Organizers Respond
Andrea Francisi, chief games operations officer for the Milan Cortina organizing committee, said the situation is being taken very seriously.
“We are aware of the situation, we have seen the images. We want everything to be perfect when medals are awarded because this is the most important moment for the athletes,” Francisi said. The team is working on a solution to prevent further issues.
