Breezy Johnson secured the gold medal during Sunday’s Alpine skiing women’s downhill, hours after USA teammate Lindsey Vonn was airlifted to hospital after a devastating crash
Team USA skier Breezy Johnson broke her gold medal just moments after securing it at the Winter Olympics. The 30-year-old secured the top gong at Cortina d’Ampezzo’s Olimpia delle Tofane piste.
She finished just 0.04 seconds ahead of Germany’s Emma Aicher, while Italian star Sofia Goggia claimed bronze. And it appears that Johnson let her celebrations get the better of her, as she departed with a broken medal.
Speaking to the BBC after claiming victory, she was told that she would get a message from fellow knitter and Team GB icon Tom Daley. The interviewer said: “I’m going to promise you, I will get you a message from Tom Daley about your collaboration.”
That promise triggered Johnson to start jumping up and down, with her medal snapping off its lanyard and falling to the floor. The interviewer added: “Oh my gosh. That didn’t just happen,” to which Johnson said: “That did just happen.”
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The journalist then followed that up by saying: “No we’re going to sort that out. No one saw that,” with Johnson turning to the camera and replying: “Tom Daley, I broke my medal for you.”
Johnson’s victory came just shortly after her teammate Lindsey Vonn fell in another brutal fall. She had previously fallen days before the game, sustaining a ruptured ACL.
Vonn has been dealt a fresh injury but is now in a stable condition, having received treatment from Italian and American doctors. Speaking about her teammate, Johnson said: “I hope it’s not as bad as it looked and I know how difficult it is to ski this course.
“And how sometimes, because you love this course so much, when you crash on it and it hurts you like that, it hurts that much worse.”
Asked about her win, Johnson added: “I sort of still can’t believe it yet, I don’t know when it will sink in yet. I knew I had to push and go harder than I did in training. I had to be super clean and I felt like I did that.”
Vonn’s sister has also spoken out. Speaking to American outlet NBC, she said: “I mean that definitely was the last thing we wanted to see and it happened quick and when that happens, you’re just immediately hoping she’s okay. And it was scary because when you start to see the stretchers being put out, it’s not a good sign.
“But she really… she just dared greatly and she put it all out there. So it’s really hard to see, but we just really hope she’s okay. She does have all of her surgeons and her PT staff here and her doctors, so I’m sure they’ll give us a report and we’ll meet her at whatever hospital she’s at.”
