20-year-old American figure skater Alysa Liu won two gold medals after a successful performance at the Winter Olympic Games in Cortina. However, one of them had to be returned due to damage, UNN reports with reference to Sportbible.
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According to the athlete, during the celebration of the first victory, the medal accidentally detached from the ribbon and received significant scratches.
"It just fell off the ribbon and got seriously scratched," Liu noted.
Despite this, she even liked the look of the damaged medal, but the Olympic rules prohibit keeping damaged awards.
Similar problems have occurred with other members of the American team. Andrea Franchisi, head of the Games' operations headquarters, confirmed that the organizers pay special attention to the quality control of medals, as this is an important component of the award for athletes.
At these Games, Alysa Liu became the first American woman in 24 years to win individual gold in figure skating, beating Japan's Kaori Sakamoto by 2.43 points. In addition, she also won a gold medal in the team event, bringing her Olympic tally to two awards at just 20 years old.
Earlier it was reported that the mechanism for tearing medal ribbons at the 2026 Games, designed for the safety of athletes, often led to damage to the awards.