Olympic medal lost, then the backlash

In the past few hours, Spanish ski mountaineering champion Ana Alonso raised the alarm on social media: she lost one of the two bronze medals she won at the Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina. The’announcement made the rounds on the web and the athlete asked her followers for help in finding the priceless object, then the twist: a few hours after the lost notification the medal was found. “I’ve found it!”” wrote Ana Alonso on social media, silencing the alarm.

The mystery has been solved but it still wouldn&#8217t be irreparable damage: there is a procedure for replacing a lost, stolen or damaged Olympic medal that must be initiated through one&#8217s National Olympic Committee (NOC): the athlete submits a formal application to the NOC explaining the circumstances of the loss or damage and providing any documentation, then the NOC verifies the athlete’s identity and status as a medalist, then forwards the official application to the IOC, which evaluates the case individually and, if approved, authorizes the production of a replacement or replica medal.

Spain ended its adventure at the Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina with 4 total medals: Ana Alonso won two bronze medals (sprint and mixed relay), Oriol Cardona won the gold medal in the sprint and the bronze medal in the mixed relay.

The king of the Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina was undoubtedly Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, who now holds the all-time record for gold medals at the Winter Olympics after one of the most dominant sports performances we will ever witness. He won six gold medals in cross-country skiing in the last Winter Olympics alone, completing the extraordinary string of victories in the races he competed in on Saturday when he won the men&#8217s 50 km mass start.

Behind the Norwegian&#8217s success, however, is a pact with his girlfriend that Klæbo himself revealed to NRK: “My girlfriend and I have been in quarantine since December, we kissed for the first time after the 50-kilometer gold medal. I could not afford to get sick, so we were forced not to kiss for months. I had a wonderful Olympics but I can&#8217t wait to get back to normal”.