US Winter Olympics star forced to give back gold medal with immediate effect after mishap
American figure skating star Alysa Liu won two gold medals at the Winter Olympics, but one didn’t make it back from the Games.
Liu, 20, won both the team and women’s individual events in Italy, and took her place at the top of the podium twice.
She became a viral sensation thanks to both her style and impressive performances on the ice, but a mishap whilst celebrating her first gold meant she had to immediately hand back a broken medal.
Alysa Liu returns to US without original gold she won
“I was just jumping up and down, as one does to celebrate, and it just dropped,” Liu revealed of the unfortunate incident.
“It just literally fell off of the ribbon. It got very scratched up, pretty dented.”
The figure skating sensation then admitted that she actually preferred the damaged medal, but Olympic rules forced her to hand it back.
“I had to give it in. I was like: ‘Can’t you just fix this one? I’m attached,'” she added.
“But it’s OK, I’m detached. Just like it was.”
How did Alysa Liu win her golds?
Liu’s first, and now damaged, gold came in the team event. Fellow US standout Ilia Malinin helped secure that medal by fighting through a mid-program stumble in the men’s singles round.
What followed for Liu was a spell-binding free skate on February 19, which secured her second gold of the 2026 Games.
She came into that in third place, following errors in the short program, but produced a performance for the ages.
Wearing a sparking gold dress and performing to Donna Summer, the 20-year-old star scored a staggering 150.20 to climb to the top of the leader board, and secure the top prize over Kaori Sakamoto, with a total score of 226.79.
Liu snapped a 24-year streak without an American woman atop the podium.
“It was just bliss, I was so happy to be there. I felt like I was floating,” she said of her headline-grabbing effort.
“I felt like the crowd carried me, I did everything I wanted to do. I was peak happiness when I was out there on the ice.
“Nothing could bring me higher than that. I don’t really feel pressure, I feel excited to be there, and happy.
“That’s the stage I always wanted to show my programs on, show my dress off and just get myself out there. I would do it again.”
According to Reuters, Liu has since had her broken medal replaced.
However, she was not the only Olympian to have an issue.
Fellow US star also suffered medal mishap
Another American, Breezy Johnson, broke her prize just moments after securing gold in the women’s downhill.
The skier landed her nation’s first medal of the Milano Cortina Games, but broke it moments after her winning run.
Fellow star Lindsey Vonn, meanwhile, suffered a gruesome injury in that same event.
During an interview with the BBC, Johnson was told that she would get a message from Team GB icon — and fellow knitter — Tom Daley.
Clearly excited by that prospect, the American jumped up and down, and her medal snapped off its ribbon.
“Oh my gosh. That didn’t just happen,” the shocked interviewer said, before adding that ‘no one saw’ the awkward moment.
“That did just happen,” Johnson replied.
“Tom Daley, I broke my medal for you.”
Speaking earlier this month, Andrea Francisi, the chief Games operations officer, confirmed organizers were investigating the medal issues.
Olympians who break their medals are not penalized, and are not in violation of any rules.
Instead, the breaking of medals this year has been put down to an issue with the medals’ cord, which is fitted with a breakaway mechanism required by law.
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