Winter Olympics officials launch investigation after athletes complain about broken medals

‘We are fully aware of the situation and you have seen the pictures,’ says chief games operations officer Andrea Francisi

Olympic medallists at the Milano Cortina Winter Games are discovering their hard-won prizes are proving less robust than their athletic achievements, with reports emerging that the gold, silver, and bronze awards are prone to breaking.

Games organisers have now launched an investigation into a series of incidents where medals have cracked, chipped, or snapped, often shortly after being presented.

Andrea Francisi, Milano Cortina Chief Games Operations Officer, acknowledged the unusual situation on Monday.

"We are fully aware of the situation and you have seen the pictures," he stated at a press conference. "We are looking into what exactly the problem is." He added that organisers would "pay maximum attention to the medals ... so that everything will be perfect because this is one of the most important things for the athletes."

Gold medallist USA's Breezy Johnson shows her broken medal to the media (Andrew Milligan/PA Wire)

Among those affected is American downhill skiing champion Breezy Johnson, who displayed her cracked and chipped medal to reporters.

"It is heavy, it’s broken. It’s a look," she remarked, explaining, "I was jumping up and down in excitement, then it just fell off."

She is not alone. German biathlete Justus Strelow reportedly saw his bronze medal break during team celebrations, while Swedish cross-country skier Ebba Andersson's silver medal from the women's skiathlon also suffered damage. "

Ebba Andersson of Sweden poses with her silver medal (AP)

The medal fell in the snow and broke in two," Andersson told Swedish broadcaster SVT. "Now I hope the organisers have a 'Plan B' for broken medals."

It comes after the quality of the Summer Olympics medals awarded to athletes at Paris 2024 came under scrutiny after a Team USA skateboarder claimed the bronze he won had deteriorated after just a week.

Nyjah Huston, who came third in the men’s skateboard street, said in a video posted to Instagram that his bronze was already chipped and losing its colour days after winning it.

He said the medal was looking like “it went to war and back” and added that it was “not as high quality as you’d think” as the bronze appeared to have rubbed off.

“Alright, so these Olympic medals look great when they’re brand new,’ Huston said in the post to his five million followers.

“But after letting it sit on my skin with some sweat for a little bit and letting my friends wear it over the weekend...” he continued, before zooming in on the medal to show its condition.

“They’re apparently not as high quality as you’d think… It’s looking rough… I don’t know, Olympic medals, we gotta step up the quality a little bit.”

The investigation in Italy continues as athletes hope for more durable mementoes of their Olympic success.