Olympics-Mystery of breaking medals baffles Milano Games organisers

By Karolos Grohmann

MILAN, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Whether gold, silver or bronze, there is one thing Milano Cortina Winter Olympics medals have in common: they can break.

Games organisers on Monday said they had launched an investigation into a spate of mishaps that have left Olympic medallists, including American downhill skiing champion Breezy Johnson, sporting a chipped medal.

"We are fully aware of the situation and you have seen the pictures," Milano Cortina Chief Games Operations Officer Andrea Francisi told a press conference on Monday. "We are looking into what exactly the problem is.

"We will pay maximum attention to the medals ... so that everything will be perfect because this is one of the most important things for the athletes."

CORD BREAKAWAY MECHANISM MAY BE CAUSE, SOURCE SAYS

A source close to the situation said that issue may stem from the medals' cord, which is fitted with a breakaway mechanism required by law.

The system is designed to release automatically if pulled with force, preventing the wearer from being choked.

Johnson is one of several decorated athletes in Italy who have seen their medals snap, crack and pop only minutes after the award ceremonies in the first few days of the Games.

"It is heavy, it’s broken," Johnson told reporters shortly after the podium ceremony, showing off her damaged medal in one hand as the separated ribbon hung around her neck. "I was jumping up and down in excitement, then it just fell off."

She is not the only one, with German biathlete Justus Strelow seeing his bronze medal lying cracked on the floor during celebrations at their team headquarters.

Sweden's cross-country skier Ebba Andersson's silver from the women's skiathlon suffered a similar fate.

"The medal fell in the snow and broke in two," Andersson was quoted as saying by Swedish broadcaster SVT. "Now I hope the organisers have a 'Plan B' for broken medals."

MEDAL REPLACED

U.S. figure skater Alysa Liu posted on Instagram that the ribbon had come off her gold medal, which she won in the team competition on Sunday.

Fellow team event gold medallist Ellie Kam said Liu, her roommate, was jumping for joy when the medal fell and picked up "a couple of dents".

"She was so excited that she was jumping up and down, and the medal is a little bit too heavy for the ribbon, I think, so it just popped off," Kam told Reuters on Monday.

Liu later had the medal replaced, Kam said. "It was a lot more drama than I thought there was going to be when I got back to my room," she added. "But all is well and good."

The medals have a clean-cut design and represent "discs of ice" made of two halves that join through the Olympic and Paralympic symbols in the middle.

The halves represent the individual athlete and network behind their success, made up of family, team and coaches. They also have two different textures, a frosted and polished one.

The gold medals weigh about 500 grams (1.1 pounds) - as much as the silver medals - and contain 6 grams of gold. The bronze medals are slightly lighter at 420 grams.