The Olympics have been handing out medals for more than a century but somehow still can’t get it right.
Organizers for the 2026 Milano-Cortina Games are scrambling after several medallists experienced issues with their newly won prizes.
While the medals themselves are holding up fine (so far) the ribbons attached so athletes can wear them around their necks appear to easily come off.
No fewer than three incidents have occurred and the Winter Olympics are just on the third official day of competition after Friday’s Opening Ceremonies.
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.
‘What’s up with those medals?’
It’s not just the gold medals, either. The German biathlon team had an issue with their bronze medals in a clip posted on social media.
As one member of the team jumps for joy, his medal easily becomes detached from the ribbon around his neck, falling to the floor.
“Hey Olympics, what’s up with those medals?” reads writing on the video.
“Are they not meant to be celebrated?” the post was captioned, with a winking emoji.
Organizers for the Games are looking into the matter with “maximum attention.”
“We are fully aware of the situation,” said Andrea Francisi, Milan-Cortina 2026 chief games operations officer. “We are looking into exactly what the problem is.
“We are going to pay maximum attention to the medals and obviously this is something we want to be perfect when the medal is handed over because this is one of the most important moments for the athletes.”
The IOC has yet to comment on whether the affected medals would be replaced.
Have their been medal issues in past Olympics?
This is now the second Olympic Games in a row with medal issues.
Many of the medals awarded at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris have already began to show signs of tarnish and wear less than two years after the Games.
According to reports, at least 220 requests have been made to replace medals won in Paris — roughly four per cent of all medals awarded.
“Damaged medals will be systematically replaced by the Monnaie de Paris and engraved in an identical way to the originals,” the IOC said.
It has become so prevalent that the Olympics website has provided a link for athletes to request replacements, with a deadline set for June 2026.