The Daily Populous Monday February 9th, 2026 evening edition
Authored by apnews.com and submitted by deraser

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MILAN (AP) — Handle with care. That’s the message from gold medalist Breezy Johnson at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics after she and other athletes found their medals broke within hours.

Olympic organizers are investigating with “maximum attention” after a spate of medals have fallen off their ribbons during celebrations on the opening weekend of the Games.

“Don’t jump in them. I was jumping in excitement, and it broke,” women’s downhill ski gold medalist Johnson said after her win Sunday. “I’m sure somebody will fix it. It’s not crazy broken, but a little broken.”

TV footage broadcast in Germany captured the moment biathlete Justus Strelow realized the mixed relay bronze he’d won Sunday had fallen off the ribbon around his neck and clattered to the floor as he danced along to a song with teammates.

His German teammates cheered as Strelow tried without success to reattach the medal before realizing a smaller piece, seemingly the clasp, had broken off and was still on the floor.

U.S. figure skater Alysa Liu posted a clip on social media of her team event gold medal, detached from its official ribbon.

“My medal don’t need the ribbon,” Liu wrote early Monday.

Andrea Francisi, the chief games operations officer for the Milan Cortina organizing committee, said it was working on a solution.

“We are aware of the situation, we have seen the images. Obviously we are trying to understand in detail if there is a problem,” Francisi said Monday.

“But obviously we are paying maximum attention to this matter, as the medal is the dream of the athletes, so we want that obviously in the moment they are given it that everything is absolutely perfect, because we really consider it to be the most important moment. So we are working on it.”

It isn’t the first time the quality of Olympic medals has come under scrutiny.

Following the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, some medals had to be replaced after athletes complained they were starting to tarnish or corrode, giving them a mottled look likened to crocodile skin.

AP Sports Writer Daniella Matar in Milan and Andrew Dampf in Cortina D’Ampezzo, Italy, contributed to this report.

steathrazor on February 9th, 2026 at 15:03 UTC »

I mean at this point is anybody really surprised that the Olympics is full of cheap bastards

Lonely_Noyaaa on February 9th, 2026 at 15:02 UTC »

> Multiple Olympic athletes reported their medals breaking or deteriorating within hours of winning them, with some breaking during celebration jumps.

This is embarrassing for the Olympics, these are supposed to be the most prestigious awards in sports. How do you cheap out on Olympic medals?

bamacpl4442 on February 9th, 2026 at 15:00 UTC »

Lol. It seems like every Olympics, the medals suck in some new way. You'd think the host countries would make quality non negotiable.