Scandals at the 2026 Winter Olympics: Disintegrating Medals in Winners' Hands, Infidelity Admissions, and Unexpected Curling Cheating
The Winter Olympic Games are in full swing, and that means one thing. Scandals, funny moments, or simple misunderstandings are piling up and we bring you a selection of the best. Poor quality medals, bizarre cheating in curling, "heroes" helmets, outraged Trump, admissions of infidelity, and much more suggest that peace at the 2026 Olympics is still far away.
Excellent performances, incredible courage, and hard work are usually associated with any Olympian's story, but this year completely different stories are coming to light.
Some of them really leave us with nothing but shaking our heads, because the idea of using an interview after winning a bronze medal as a space for an apology for infidelity wouldn’t occur to even the most creative writer.
Just don't jump with them
What greater success can an athlete imagine than an Olympic medal around their neck? To everyone's horror, this year several winners appeared whose medals didn’t last very long at all.
"Don't jump in them. I jumped for joy and the medal fell apart. So here I have the medal, ribbon, and a small piece that is supposed to hold it together,"
revealed in an interview published on Instagram, gold skier Breezy Johnson from the USA.
The same fate befell figure skater Alysa Liu.
"I was just jumping up and down like you do when celebrating, and it simply fell off. It literally slid off the ribbon. It got scratched a lot. It didn't bend much, but a bit. I actually liked it more when it wasn't on the ribbon, but that's not allowed. I had to return it. I was like, 'Can't you just fix this one for me?' I'm attached to it. But it's okay, I've already detached myself from it,”
She even admitted to SI that the exchange of the medal slightly bothered her. However, she later added that she is happy to wear it around her neck.
Cheating at the Olympics?
It's hard to imagine that even cheating has its place at the Olympics, but as it turns out, it does. First the Canadians and now the British were accused of cheating in curling, which is probably the calmest sport of the entire Winter Olympics.
This involves a double stone touch, which is against the rules. Curling is one of the sports that doesn't use video reviews for penalties, making it difficult to retrospectively assess who is right. Opinions on the whole matter vary, but everyone hopes the situation won't repeat.
Romantic gesture went quite wrong
One of the worst apologies ever goes hands down to Norwegian biathlete Sturla Holm Lægreid. After winning a bronze medal in the 20-kilometer race, he decided to win back his ex-girlfriend. However, the romantic gesture started to resemble an uncomfortable confession after the athlete publicly admitted to infidelity.
"I told her a week ago. And it was the worst week of my life,"
he said to the Norwegian public broadcaster NRK.
"I had a gold medal in life, and there are probably many people who see me differently now, but I only have eyes for her. Sports have taken a bit of a backseat the past few days. Yeah... I wish I could share it with her."
The whole topic was opened by mentioning the desire to share the victory with someone who might not even be watching.
Trump is ashamed of his own athletes
Donald Trump certainly cannot be absent from the selection of controversies. Harsh words were spoken by the President of the United States towards freestyle skier Hunter Hess. He opposed Trump with his statement, where he admitted to having mixed feelings about representing the USA due to things happening in the country that he does not like.
"I think it brings up quite mixed feelings in me right now to represent the USA. It's a bit difficult. Obviously, there are a lot of things happening that I don't like at all, and I think a lot of people don't either. For me personally, it's more about representing my friends and family at home, the people who have represented our country before me, and all the things I believe are good about the USA,"
the athlete confided.
The reaction was not long in coming, and through social media, a hard blow came directly from the head of state.
"American Olympic skier Hunter Hess, a real loser, claims that he does not represent his country at the current Winter Olympic Games. If that is really the case, he should not have applied to the team and it's a shame that he's even in it. It's very difficult to root for someone like that. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"
wrote Trump on Sunday on his social media site Truth Social.
Sources: own text, NBCnews, theguardian.com, Instagram, Youtube, aktualne.cz
