Why are Olympic medals breaking?

Organisers of the 2026 Winter Olympics are “looking into exactly what the problem is” as Olympic medals are breaking.

A handful of athletes competing in Milan–Cortina have experienced the misfortune of their medal ribbons becoming detached, despite it being reported that Olympic Gold medals are more valuable than ever ahead of the 2026 Winter Games.

Two American athletes who topped the podium, Breezy Johnson and Alysa Liu, have spoken about an unexpected problem with their medals, explaining that the ribbon detached shortly after the presentation.

Johnson, the women’s downhill alpine skiing champion, brought the damaged medal with her to the post-race press conference, where she pointed out the issue to the media.

Holding the pieces up, she explained that the medal and ribbon had separated, showing the small connector that should keep them together and confirming it had broken.

Liu later shared that she faced the same problem, posting a video on social media after claiming gold with the United States in the figure skating team event, revealing her ribbon had also come loose.

The same problem was experienced by Germany’s biathlon team after they claimed bronze. Footage shared on Instagram shows one athlete’s medal slipping free from its ribbon as the team celebrated by jumping around at their hotel.

Milan-Cortina 2026’s chief Games operations officer, Andrea Francisi, confirmed organisers are examining what went wrong.

He said officials are fully aware of the issue and are working to identify the cause, stressing that extra care will be taken to ensure medals are in perfect condition during presentations, given how significant the moment is for competitors.

It remains unclear whether competitors affected by the issue will be given new medals.

Questions over the standard of Olympic medals are becoming a recurring issue, as of February 2025, officials had received 220 applications to swap medals from the Paris 2024 Games after athletes reported damage and deterioration.

British diver Yasmin Harper, who secured Team GB’s opening medal of the 2024 Olympics, was one of those to raise concerns, revealing her medal had begun to discolour.

Organisers of Paris 2024 later confirmed that any medals found to be faulty would be exchanged.