The organizers of the Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo only gave out the first sets of precious metals over the weekend, but they are already facing a serious problem and a wave of criticism. The memorabilia is falling apart, as several medalists pointed out.
One of them is Breezy Johnson, the winner of the alpine skiers’ downhill. Her medal did not even last until the end of the ceremony. “Don’t jump with them. I jumped for joy and broke.” she told reporters after the ceremony and then showed the medal: “Here’s the medal, here’s the ribbon, and here’s the little piece that’s supposed to go into the ribbon to hold the medal.”
Similar problems were also reported by other athletes, for example the Swedish cross-country skier Ebba Anderssonová, who won silver in the skiathlon, or the German biathlete Justus Strelow, who won bronze in the mixed race. “The medal fell into the snow and broke in two,” Swedish public television SVT quoted Andersson.
On Monday, the organizing committee of the games also began to deal with the medal problem. “We are fully aware of the situation. You’ve all seen the pictures. Let’s explore what exactly is the problem. We will pay maximum attention to the medals. Of course, we want to be perfect in this, because the medal presentation is one of the most important moments for athletes,” Chief Operating Officer Andrea Francisi said on the Games’ official media portal.
American television NBC reported on Monday evening that Breezy Johnson received a new gold medal instead of the broken one. “It’s very heavy, the ribbon came off and they didn’t know how to put it back on. So they gave me a new one. I might have set the record for the shortest lifespan of an Olympic medal.” she laughed. There were also problems with precious metals two years ago. Organizers of the Paris Games had to replace several as athletes complained they were losing their luster or corroding.
