Why do the Winter Olympics medals keep breaking?

Winter Olympic officials are investigating after multiple athletes in Italy discovered their medals had broken within hours of receiving them.

Multiple medal-winning athletes have recently complained that their medals have broken, with ski gold medallist Breezy Johnson advising, "don't jump in them".

"I was jumping in excitement, and it broke. I’m sure somebody will fix it. It’s not crazy broken, but a little broken," she shared.

Meanwhile, US figure skater Alysa Liu shared a clip of her gold medal detached from its ribbon. The United States figure skater also posted a video on social media showing her team event gold medal separated from its official ribbon, to which Johnson quipped: "I feel you...."

Biathlete Justus Strelow also noted how his bronze medal had suddenly fallen off the ribbon around his neck.

This is not the first time Olympic medals have come under scrutiny. At the 2024 Paris Games, several had to be replaced after athletes reported signs of corrosion.

Officials have since spoken out on the issue, with Andrea Francisi, the chief games operations officer for the Milan Cortina, saying they are aware of the situation and have seen the images.

"We are trying to understand in detail if there is a problem," he said in a statement. "But we are paying maximum attention to this matter, as the medal is the dream of the athletes, so we want that in the moment they are given it that everything is absolutely perfect, because we really consider it to be the most important moment."

Francisi said the team are "working on it".

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