Alysa Liu Olympic Medal Broken: The Story Gets Worse

Winning an Olympic gold medal is supposed to be a picturesque moment, but for Team USA figure skater Alysa Liu, it's taken an unfortunate turn.

On Sunday, Feb. 8, Liu won the gold along with Team USA, but shortly after, she showed cameras that her gold medal broke. Sure, that was concerning, but what happened later was even more upsetting for the athlete.

"I was just jumping up and down, as one does to celebrate, and it just dropped," she told Overtime in an interview published on Monday, Feb. 9. "It just literally fell off of the ribbon. It got very scratched up... pretty dented."

Alysa Liu Olympic Medal: Broken Gold Medal Takes Even More Unfortunate Turn

Even though it broke, the medal already had sentimental value to Liu, so she was happy to keep it. But, that wasn't possible.

"I actually liked it when it was off the ribbon, but that's not allowed," she explained in the interview. "I had to give it in. I was like, 'Can't you just fix this one?'" She added, "I'm attached. But it's OK. I'm detached. Just like it was."

Team USA Olympic skier Breezy Johnson also had her medal come off after her win in the women's downhill on Feb. 8.

"Do not jump in them. I was jumping in excitement and it broke," Breezy told reporters in an interview after her win, as she showed off her broken medal. "So, there's the medal, there's the ribbon and here's the little piece that is supposed to go into the ribbon to hold the medal. Yeah, it came apart."

She didn't come across as too upset by it, though, and said, "I'm sure someone will fix it. It's not crazy broken, but it's a little broken."

Olympics Officials Are Looking Into the Medal Situation

Yet another set of athletes also had this happen. After winning their medals, the German biathlon team posted a video to Instagram, showing Justus Strelow's bronze medal falling off and breaking to the ground. In the video, the team wrote, "Are they not meant to be celebrated?"

Andrea Francisi, the Milano Cortina 2026 Chief Games Operations Officer, told press on Feb. 9 that officials are “fully aware of the situation” and looking into why the awards keep detaching from their ribbon, according to a report from People.

"We're going to pay particular attention to the medals and obviously this is something that [we want] everything [to] be perfect when the medal is handed over," he added, "because this is probably one of the most important moments for the athletes. So, we're working on it."