Over 20 sets of medals have been awarded so far in Milan and Cortina. But the objects of desire are not always as stable as hoped. These are the Olympic splinters from Tuesday.
10.02.2026, 16:40
10.02.2026, 21:03
SDA
Gold, silver, superglue
Things can break at victory celebrations, but it shouldn't be the medals. There are more and more incidents of the precious metal won by athletes at the Olympic Games in Milan/Cortina not withstanding the strain of bouncing around. In some cases, the pin that holds the medal and ribbon together has come loose. When they hit the ground, dents appear and scratches appear on the gold, silver and bronze when they are put back together.
US downhill Olympic champion Breezy Johnson, Swedish cross-country skier Ebba Andersson (silver), US figure skater Alysa Liu (gold), German biathlete Justus Strelow (bronze) and Austrian snowboarder Sabine Payer (silver) have all had experience with dropped medals.
First transgender athlete at the Winter Games
The Swede Elis Lundholm was the first openly transgender athlete to compete at the Winter Olympics. The ski freestyler identifies as a man, but starts on the moguls in the women's competition and finished last after a skiing error in the qualification. On Wednesday, Lundholm will have a second chance to qualify for the final of the top ten female starters.
A trans man is a man with a male gender identity who was assigned the female gender at birth. As Lundholm has not undergone gender reassignment surgery and has not had any legal changes made to his gender, the 23-year-old was nominated for the women's team by the Swedish Olympic Committee in accordance with the applicable regulations.
When the assistant coach blows the whistle
Before the Swiss ice hockey players get down to business against France on Thursday, they were tested on Monday - albeit in private and with special match management. Assistant coach Marcel Jenni slipped into the referee's jersey for the training game against Latvia, as national coach Patrick Fischer revealed at the disciplinary meeting. The second referee was provided by the Latvians. The game was played without body checks, but with a focus on tactics and special teams. "We wanted to play gently and try out tactical things," said Fischer. In the end, the result was a fraternal 5:5 - very much in the spirit of a game with an even refereeing score.
