Woo! Snap! Clang!
That’s the sound of an Olympic medal detaching from its ribbon and plummeting to the floor as its proud new owner jumps in celebration, and it has become an unwelcome addition to the Milan-Cortina Games amid the cheers and national anthems. Multiple athletes have shared stories of their medals breaking off their ribbons shortly after receiving them — sometimes mid-celebration.
Olympic organizers are scrambling to find out what the problem is.
“We are going to pay particular 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,” Andrea Francisi, the chief games operation officer for these Olympics, said when asked about the broken medals at a news conference on Monday.
From social media footage and athletes’ comments, it seems that jumping for joy may be at least partly behind the medal malfunctions.
Breezy Johnson, the American Alpine ski racer who won gold in the women’s downhill on Sunday, told reporters that her medal fell off the ribbon while she was hopping up and down while celebrating her win.
“Don’t jump in them,” she said. “I was jumping in excitement and it broke.”
The damage wasn’t too bad, she added: “It’s not, like, crazy broken. But, a little broken.”
It was the first Olympic medal for Johnson, 30, who did not win one in the 2018 Pyeonchang Games and missed the 2022 Beijing Games with an injury.
Johnson wasn’t the only athlete whose jubilation proved too much for the medals. In a video posted on social media by the German biathlon team, which won bronze in the mixed relay on Sunday, a medal falls off Justus Strelow’s ribbon while he celebrates with his fellow athletes. “Are they not meant to be celebrated?” the caption read.
Alysa Liu, the American figure skater, had the same issue. In a video on Instagram, she holds up the ribbon in one hand and her — detached — gold medal in the other. “My medal don’t need the ribbon,” she wrote.
It is not the first time in recent years that there has been trouble with medals at the Games. Months after the Summer Olympics in Paris in 2024, more than 100 athletes asked for their crumbling medals to be replaced, with many of them showing their flaking medals on social media.
But what exactly is going on with the medals in Italy remains a mystery. In the meantime, it may be worth holding onto the medals while jumping for joy.
“We are fully aware of the situation,” Francisi, the organizer, said. “We are looking into exactly what the problem is.”
Tariq Panja contributed reporting from Milan.
Claire Moses is a Times reporter in London, focused on coverage of breaking and trending news.
The post Olympic P.S.A.: Do Not Jump for Joy While Wearing Your Medal appeared first on New York Times.
