What’s with the defective Olympic medals on the Winter Video games? : NPR

[ad_1] <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5292x3485+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F85%2F0b%2Fdcffdfbf4282addd0ea00b248af9%2Fgettyimages-2261213558.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5292x3485+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F85%2F0b%2Fdcffdfbf4282addd0ea00b248af9%2Fgettyimages-2261213558.jpg" class="img" alt="Triple Olympic Gold medalist Franjo von Allmen of Team Switzerland poses for a photo with his medals at the team hotel on Feb. 12 in Bormio, Italy." fetchpriority="high"/> Triple Olympic Gold medalist Franjo von Allmen of Staff Switzerland poses for a photograph along with his medals on the workforce resort on Feb. 12 in Bormio, Italy. Christian Petersen/Getty Pictures Europe disguise caption

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Christian Petersen/Getty Pictures Europe The Olympic medal is likely one of the most coveted awards that an athlete can obtain. However at this 12 months's Winter Video games in Milan, medalists are celebrating cautiously.

"I used to be leaping in pleasure and it broke," American skier Breezy Johnson stated after incomes her gold medal on Sunday. She warned different medalists "Do not leap in them."

Johnson is certainly one of a number of athletes who reported their medals detaching from their ribbon and in a single case, breaking in half.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3916x2611+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F4c%2Ff4%2Ffbb0831e4351863fb9a2dc976052%2Fgettyimages-2259972035.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3916x2611+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F4c%2Ff4%2Ffbb0831e4351863fb9a2dc976052%2Fgettyimages-2259972035.jpg" class="img" alt="American skier Breezy Johnson holds up her gold medal on the podium of the women's downhill event during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games at the Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre in Cortina d'Ampezzo on Feb. 8." loading="lazy"/> American skier Breezy Johnson holds up her gold medal on the rostrum of the ladies's downhill occasion through the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Video games on the Tofane Alpine Snowboarding Centre in Cortina d'Ampezzo on Feb. 8. Stefano Rellandini/AFP by way of Getty Pictures disguise caption

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Stefano Rellandini/AFP by way of Getty Pictures At a press briefing on Tuesday, Olympic organizing committee spokesperson Luca Casassa stated he was conscious that there have been points with some medals. He added {that a} answer has been recognized and inspired athletes with defective medals to return them for restore.

"As a precaution, we're re-checking all of the medals to be sure that the athletes' pleasure might be actually 360 levels once they conquer one thing which is so treasured and so essential," Casassa stated in Italian.

He did not specify what the problem or the repair was.

This is not the primary time that Olympic medals wanted to get replaced. After the 2024 Summer season Olympics in Paris, athletes raised issues that their awards, which famously included items of the Eiffel Tower, had been tarnishing and corroding after the video games.

Athletes report defective medals, however proceed to have a good time their achievements The precise second when German biathlete Justus Strelow's medal got here unfastened was caught on digicam. In a video that has since gone viral, Strelow's teammates are seen clapping when a clang might be heard. The digicam pans to Strelow, who picks up his medal and tries to re-attach it to his ribbon — resulting in a clumsy halt in celebrations.

In a video posted on Instagram, Alysa Liu, a determine skater with Staff USA, confirmed off her ribbon-less medal, alongside the phrases, "My medal do not want the ribbon."

Whereas a lot of the medal snafus had been restricted to strap points, Swedish cross-country skier Ebba Andersson informed Swedish broadcaster SVT that her silver broke in two when it fell within the snow.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5006x3421+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fd5%2Fa0%2Ffa64234e46859e44dc42edf52554%2Fgettyimages-2260371444.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5006x3421+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fd5%2Fa0%2Ffa64234e46859e44dc42edf52554%2Fgettyimages-2260371444.jpg" class="img" alt="Silver medalist Ebba Andersson of Team Sweden celebrates on the podium during the Medal Ceremony for the Women's 10km + 10km Skiathlon on day one of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic games at Tesero Cross-Country Skiing Stadium on Feb. 7 in Val di Fiemme, Italy." loading="lazy"/> Silver medalist Ebba Andersson of Staff Sweden celebrates on the rostrum through the Medal Ceremony for the Ladies's 10km + 10km Skiathlon on day one of many Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic video games at Tesero Cross-Nation Snowboarding Stadium on Feb. 7 in Val di Fiemme, Italy. Maddie Meyer/Getty Pictures Europe disguise caption

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Maddie Meyer/Getty Pictures Europe Johnson, the American skier, stated a small rectangular piece — that was supposed to carry the medal and ribbon collectively — got here aside, making her medal unwearable.

"I am certain anyone will repair it. It isn't loopy damaged however a bit of damaged," she stated on Sunday.

A couple of days later, Johnson informed Reuters that she acquired a substitute medal, however she would favor to have her authentic again, noting that her new medal was not but engraved.

"They could not repair it so that they gave me a brand new one," she stated. "Though I am truly curious, as a result of then I feel a few of the later ones they had been in a position to repair. So now I am sort of questioning if perhaps I can get the previous one again mounted."

Design flaw or manufacturing glitch? This 12 months's medals resemble two halves coming collectively. In a video, Raffaella Paniè, who serves because the Model, Identification and Look Director at this 12 months's Winter Video games, stated it was meant to represent how every victory is the results of the athlete, in addition to their workforce of household, coaches and trainers.

Reuters reported that the medals featured a security clip, supposed to snap off when pulled forcefully to stop the ribbon from strangling. The Milano-Cortina press workforce didn't reply to an e-mail request for remark concerning the medals' clip operate.

"It sounds prefer it's not all the metals, it is simply a few of them, which leads me to consider that — simply speculating — there's some form of manufacturing glitch," stated Doug McIndoe, editor of The MCA Advisory, {a magazine} from the Medal Collectors of America.

In response to McIndoe, when solid metals are poured into mould and harden, it could trigger the steel to shrink.

"It is attainable that the opening the place that clip goes in is perhaps barely too huge, just some millimeters or lower than that, and it is simply not securing that clip in correctly," he stated.

He added that it is an age-old query of the way to make medals wearable, explaining that drilling a gap or incorporating one into the design of a mould to string a ribbon by way of had been traditionally unpopular strategies. It wasn't till the Nineteen Sixties that Olympic medals started to be worn round athletes' necks.

"Again from Roman occasions, they had been, they had been simply one thing you maintain in your fingers and revel in and lots of them had been issued in bins," McIndoe added.

Even with the design hiccups, this 12 months's gold and silver medals are value essentially the most they have been in a century. That is as a result of the value of those treasured metals have soared over the previous 12 months. A number of components are contributing to document costs, however a important driver is President Trump's tariffs, which is inflicting financial uncertainty in markets world wide, in keeping with treasured metals knowledgeable Peter Krauth.

Though every gold medal incorporates solely 500 grams of precise gold (the remaining is product of silver) Krauth estimates that their present value stands at round $2,300 — twice their worth through the Summer season Olympics in July 2024. A silver medal is presently value round $1,400 — practically 3 times its worth two years in the past, he stated.

Krauth believes the value of gold and silver will proceed to stay excessive for years to return, even as much as the 2028 Summer season Olympics. However he famous that the actual value of Olympic medals comes from the athletic achievement behind it.