Nobody likes to see an athlete choke under pressure. But after they’ve already been awarded their Olympic medal, you would think that it shouldn’t be an issue.
But, according to reports, one of the reasons why several Olympians have had their medals fall apart in their hands is because of a safety measure to prevent choking.
However, a spokesman for the Milano-Cortina Games said that a fix has been made and that athletes whose medals have come apart will receive new ones.
“Following reports of issues affecting a small number of medals, the organizing committee immediately reviewed the matter, working closely with the State Mint, which produced the medals,” spokesperson Lucas Casassa said, per The Guardian.
“A solution has been identified, and a targeted fix has been put in place. Athletes whose medals have been affected are encouraged to return them through the appropriate channels so that they can be promptly repaired and returned.
“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.”
Casassa also said that he did not know how many medals had been broken or damaged, but that they are in the process of rechecking the hardware yet to be handed out.
“It is important to stress that, as a precaution, we are rechecking all the medals to make sure that the athletes’ joy can really be 360 degrees when they conquer something which is so precious and so important for them, but also for us, the supporters,” he said.
Medals are a choking hazard?
A source told Reuters that the issue could be a result of the clasp and ribbon on the medals, which features a breakaway mechanism that is legally required to prevent potential strangulation or other injuries.
The Guardian also reported that the medals feature a mechanism to disengage if yanked with force.
How many athletes have broken their medals?
Jutta Leerdam, one of the most high-profile athletes at the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics, accidentally broke her medal during a post on TikTok.
Leerdam was proudly showing off her new hardware along with fiance Jake Paul, when the gold medal broke mid-video.
“I broke it,” she said. “I broke it.”
“Yeah, it keeps breaking. I’ll fix it again,” said Paul, the famous YouTuber-turned-boxer.
U.S. skier Jacqueline Wiles also reportedly broke her bronze medal on Tuesday.
“Some arms were swinging and I was jumping,” Wiles said, per Reuters. “And it got out of hand a little quickly. But that’s OK. They fixed it already.”
Breezy Johnson, who won gold in the women’s downhill alpine skiing on Sunday, showed off her broken medal at the post-event media conference.
“So there’s the medal. And there’s the ribbon,” Johnson told reporters. “And here’s the little piece that is supposed to go into the ribbon to hold the medal and, yeah, it came apart.”
Fellow American Alysa Liu shared in an Instagram post that her medal has also come undone.
“My medal don’t need the ribbon,” the figure skater wrote with a video showing off her prize — medal in one hand, ribbon in the other — from the team event on Sunday.
The German biathlon team also had an issue with their bronze medals in a clip posted on social media.