Breezy Johnson has plans for her repaired gold medal

American skier Breezy Johnson told CBS News she's been treating her replacement golden medal with attraction aft the original, which she won successful the women's downhill lawsuit astatine the 2026 Winter Games successful Italy connected Saturday, broke.

"I deliberation that due to the fact that they were truthful heavy, the ribbons couldn't truly clasp them," Johnson said, calling it "a small disappointing" that Olympic medal winners had to beryllium cautious astir celebrating excessively enthusiastically, arsenic it's "all anybody wants to do."

Johnson said she was initially told she wouldn't get her archetypal medal back, but it has been fixed, and she plans to support it and commercialized successful the replacement. She besides plans to knit a peculiar pouch to support it safe. 

"I americium an avid knitter," Johnson told CBS News analogous Seth Doane connected Wednesday. "I knit a caller chapeau oregon headband for each race. It's a large superstition of mine."

She lone wears her peculiar handknit contention accessories once, for their respective race, aft which they are retired.

"They're piling up successful my bags, but I've been wanting for a agelong clip to, like, auction immoderate of them disconnected and, like, person radical bargain them and donate the proceeds to charity," she said. "I don't person thing other to bash with them."

Team USA's Breezy Johnson shows her golden medal successful the alpine skis women's downhill contention connected Feb. 8, 2026. Andy Wong / AP

Asked astir her views connected representing the United States, fixed political debate astir the Games, Johnson declined to spell down that slope.

"There's been a batch of rhetoric. I personally similar to absorption connected my skiing. I personally don't cognize anybody who has changed their governmental affiliation due to the fact that of thing that immoderate personage oregon idiosyncratic said. So, I personally similar to absorption connected my skiing and donate the wealth that I marque to charities that I consciousness are really doing the enactment that I support."

Despite winning the archetypal gold medal for Team USA successful Italy, the Milano-Cortina Winter Games haven't been a full occurrence communicative for Johnson. 

She failed to marque the podium aft skiing with teammate Mikaela Shiffrin successful the squad slalom lawsuit Tuesday. After the race, Johnson could beryllium seen speaking with Shiffrin, delivering what looked similar a pep talk.

"I said, 'I cognize you tried your champion and it's gonna beryllium OK,'" Johnson told CBS News of the backstage chat. "I don't, like, clasp immoderate of that against anyone due to the fact that I cognize this sport. There's truthful galore variables, and determination were variables yesterday, too. They weren't needfully successful our favor, and we went retired and we some gave it our all, and it didn't happen, but that's OK."

Johnson said she's mostly beauteous bully astatine coping with the unit of competing astatine the highest level of her athletics — and she understands that specified competition, and specified utmost speeds, travel with utmost danger.

After Team USA's Lindsay Vonn was injured successful a autumn successful the downhill contention Saturday, which Johnson went connected to win, she said her 41-year-old satellite champion teammate texted her.

"She said, 'congratulations,'" Johnson said. "You know, I cognize what she's going done is hard, and I deliberation she's dealing with a lot. So, we haven't spoken, like, connected the telephone oregon anything, but I privation her the best."

Johnson said she besides understands what drove Vonn to vie successful these Games conscionable a week aft rupturing her ACL.

"Part of what breaks your bosom is that you're utilized to defying the odds. You're utilized to penning fairytale endings. And the world is that those things get made into movies due to the fact that they're truthful unlikely. And unfortunately, you can't ever — it's not ever similar the movies," she said.

"It's hard to recognize what moves radical to bash it, but erstwhile you're doing it well, it's a beauteous unthinkable feeling," Johnson said, adding that spectators tin stock successful the rush: "It's Formula One connected crystal with elephantine knives. Who doesn't privation to ticker that?"

Seth Doane contributed to this report.

In:

• Olympics
• Skiing