Just Days into Competition, Athletes Complain of Damaged Olympic Medals

Athletes at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, Italy, have reported significant damage to their award medals. Notable athletes like Breezy Johnson from the United States, a gold medal-winning skier, demonstrated her broken medal to reporters, showing the medal's small parts that had detached. Similar incidents were reported by Aliza Liu in figure skating and Justus Strelow, a German biathlon athlete. Olympic organizers have launched an immediate investigation into the medal defects, treating the issue as a high-priority concern. This is not the first time Olympic medals have experienced quality issues, with approximately 220 medals from the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics also requiring replacement due to rapid discoloration or oxidation.