Gold medals, joyful jumps, and ribbons that couldn’t keep up — this week’s Mistake of the Week looks at what happens when celebration meets an under-tested design.
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After winning Olympic gold, skier Breezy Johnson did what champions do — she jumped in celebration. Moments later, her medal detached from its ribbon.
Embed from Getty ImagesShe wasn’t alone. Several athletes at the Winter Olympics reported medals slipping or breaking free during post-victory celebrations. Johnson later joked, “Don’t jump in them… I was jumping in excitement and it broke,” adding that the damage was “not, like, crazy broken — but a little broken.”
Embed from Getty ImagesIn this episode, Mark Graban looks at why this isn’t really a story about athletes celebrating too hard — and why it’s encouraging that Olympic officials acknowledged the problem quickly instead of blaming the winners.
The lesson isn’t about behavior. It’s about design, testing, and learning from past experience — especially for systems meant to perform during once-in-a-lifetime moments.
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Transcript
This week’s Mistake of the Week comes from the Winter Olympics in Italy — where athletes won, but the medals couldn’t keep up with the celebration.
After winning gold in the women’s downhill, American skier Breezy Johnson did what champions do. She jumped for joy.
And her medal jumped off too.
The ribbon detached while she was celebrating.
“Don’t jump in them,” Johnson said later. “I was jumping in excitement and it broke.”
The damage wasn’t severe.
“It’s not, like, crazy broken,” she added. “But… a little broken.”
Well, so it could have been worse. She wasn’t alone. Other athletes posted videos showing medals slipping off their ribbons — sometimes seconds after they were placed around their necks.
Olympic officials acknowledged the problem quickly and publicly, saying they were looking into it and emphasizing that medal ceremonies should be perfect. That response matters.
There was no blaming athletes for celebrating “too hard.” No suggestion that joy was the problem. Just an admission that something designed for a once-in-a-lifetime moment didn’t perform as expected.
This isn’t really a story about jumping. It’s a story about design.
Medals are meant to be worn while people move, cheer, hug, and celebrate. That’s not misuse — that’s the job. Which raises a fair question: how did a ribbon system make it to the Games without being tested under real celebration conditions?
Especially when past Olympics haven’t seemed to have this issue, despite decades of exuberant medal winners.
From a learning perspective, this wasn’t a failure of responsibility. It was a missed opportunity to test, anticipate, or learn from history.
What’s encouraging is what happened next. Officials acknowledged the issue instead of blaming individuals. That shifts attention from people to the system — which is where improvement actually happens.
No one was hurt. The medals still mattered. The victories still count.
But the moment lingers because it shows something important: even the most symbolic objects need practical engineering, and systems have to be designed for how people actually behave.
That’s the Mistake of the Week.
Not that someone celebrated too much — but that the medals weren't quite ready for celebration.