After winning a gold medal at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics , Team USA figure skater Alysa Liu was required to return her medal , a moment that has now turned into a full-blown controversy.
Shortly after the team event win on Sunday, February 8, Liu was celebrating with her teammates when her medal unexpectedly broke , despite the Milano Cortina medals reportedly being the most expensive in Olympic history .
- Alysa Liu revealed Olympic officials wouldn’t let her keep her gold medal, even though it broke during a joyful celebration moment.
- The incident reignited outrage over the Milano Cortina 2026 medals’ quality, especially since they’re reportedly the most expensive in Olympic history.
- As more athletes reported similar issues, organizers faced growing pressure to explain why the medals were breaking so easily, and they have finally come up with a solution.
As details of the incident surfaced online, the internet was quick to express disappointment, with one user reacting, “ She will forever be thinking about that lost medal .”
Team USA figure skater Alysa Liu had to return her gold medal after it broke during her victory celebration and got “very scratched up”
US figure skater holding broken gold medal with a grimace during celebration at a sporting event.
The medals at the 2026 Winter Olympics were designed by a team led by Raffaella Paniè and produced by the Italian State Mint using recycled metals from its own production waste and powered by renewable energy, making them the first Olympic medals made entirely from recycled metals.
An estimated “podium value,” or intrinsic metal value, of the medals has reportedly been around $2,400 for gold, approximately $1,400 for silver, and around $5.60 for bronze.
US figure skater smiling with a gold medal and American flag draped, celebrating during award ceremony.
Tweet about a US figure skater celebrating too much and breaking her gold medal during the victory celebration.
Despite their hefty value, especially for gold and silver, many Olympians have reported their medals breaking off or detaching from their ribbons within hours of being awarded.
One such mishap was experienced by USA gold medalist Alysa Liu, who shared a video of her team event gold medal completely detached from its official blue ribbon on Monday, February 9, on her Instagram account.
In the clip, the caption read, “My medal don’t need the ribbon,” as Liu held the gold disc in one hand and the blue ribbon in the other.
US figure skater performing a spiral move on ice during a competition with a colorful background and white costume.
The incident sparked intense criticism aimed at Olympic organizers and the medal quality, with one angry viewer writing online, “TBH the way the Olympics has been acting I’m not surprised the medals are shoddy construction.”
A second wrote, “This is the second olympian i’ve seen who’s medal broke while they were jumping up and down.”
The 20-year-old revealed in a recent interview that, despite her attachment to the broken medal, she was “not allowed” to keep it
US figure skater holding broken gold medal in celebration, showing resilience despite medal damage and controversy.
Twitter post discussing US figure skater Breezy Johnson’s gold medal breaking during Olympic celebration.
A third quipped, “That’s because they bought them on TikTok shop.”
“When the medals are ordered from TEMU,” joked one netizen, while others echoed, “Sad that an Olympic medal doesn’t reflect the quality of such an achievement in any way…”
Amid the controversy, Alysa revealed in a recent interview with Overtime , “I was just jumping up and down, as one does to celebrate, and it just dropped. It just literally fell off of the ribbon. It got very scratched up… pretty dented.”
alysa already breaking her olympic gold medal is sending me pic.twitter.com/L6j63oFxMD — layla noor ♡ (@bylaylanoor) February 9, 2026
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