Olympic Medals Are Breaking In Italy, So Athletes Are Being Told Not To Celebrate Too Hard

Given the years of preparation that go into the Olympics, you would think organizers could manage to find medals that would hold up during celebrations, let alone over time for athletes to cherish for the rest of their lives, but that hasn't been the case whatsoever.

During the 2024 Summer Games in Paris, it was the bronze medals in particular that made headlines due to the very clear and very extreme degradation they took on days after being handed over to athletes. Fast-forward to the ongoing Winter Games in Italy, and the quality of the medals is garnering attention yet again. 

Breezy Johnson, who took gold for the U.S. in the alpine downhill over the weekend, sent what was a downright sad warning for other athletes about what not to do with their medals.

"Don't jump in them. I was jumping in excitement, and it broke," Johnson explained, according to the Associated Press. "I'm sure somebody will fix it. It's not crazy broken, but a little broken."

American figure skater Alyssa Liu posted a video on Instagram that the ribbon attached to her team event golf medal had snapped as well.

With multiple instances on the record of medals breaking, Olympic organizers have launched a full-blown investigation into the issue. 

"We are aware of the situation. We have seen the images. Obviously we are trying to understand in detail if there is a problem," Andrea Francisi, the chief games operations officer for the Milan Cortina organizing committee, said on 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."

You have to love Francisi using the phrase "we are trying to understand in detail if there is a problem," when there very clearly is. 

Athletes who spend their lives in hopes of putting an Olympic medal around their neck having that moment turn awkward because the medal decides to break isn't exactly part of the Olympic dream.