Despite the hard work and dedication it took to earn their Olympic medals, over 100 frustrated athletes have decided to return them after signs of deterioration appeared.
One of the first to complain about the quality of the medals was Team USA skateboarder Nyjah Huston, who said his bronze medal looked like it had “gone to war and back.”
“These Olympic medals look great when they’re brand-new, but after letting it sit on my skin with some sweat for a little bit and letting my friends wear it over the weekend, they’re apparently not as high quality as you’d think,” he shared along with a photo of the chipped medal.
More than 100 athletes have returned their Olympic and Paralympic medals since the Paris Games
On the last day of the Olympics, Danish badminton player Viktor Axelsen compared the two gold medals he won at the 2021 Tokyo Summer Olympics and the 2024 Paris Games, leading to comments that the recent one looked “cheap.”
According to a report published on Monday (January 13) by the French newspaper La Lettre, over a hundred disgruntled athletes have returned their defective medals after being dissatisfied with their quality in just four months.
The Monnaie de Paris (the Paris Mint), the public institution that produced the medals for last year’s games, has ousted its three production and quality directors amid the scandal.
The low-quality varnishes were the result of a ban on a toxic component of the previously used varnish, chromium trioxide, which had to be replaced at short notice, as per La Lettre.
Before the incident with the Olympic and Paralympic medals, the Monnaie de Paris struggled with its defective varnishes when tech giant Huawei ordered work medals for its employees.
In October 2023, the Chinese company returned more than 12,000 worn-out medals after noting the appearance of cracks resulting from the new varnishes that would later be used to coat the Olympic medals.
Team USA skateboarder Nyjah Huston said his bronze medal wasn’t of “high quality,” as it began to chip after wearing it for some time
Image credits: nyjah
Image credits: nyjah
Among the athletes who expressed frustration over the state of their medals was also British diver Yasmin Harper, who said her Olympic bronze was showing signs of “tarnishing.”
“There’s been some small bits of tarnishing,” she said in August 2024. “I think it’s water or anything that gets under metal; it’s making it go a little bit discolored, but I’m not sure.”
Similarly, Team France swimmers Clément Secchi and Yohann Ndoye Brouard, who won bronze when competing in the 4×100-metre medley relay, published photos of their damaged prizes.
Secchi described his medal as having “crocodile skin” due to the visible cracks in the varnish. Meanwhile, Ndoye Brouard captioned the image with a crying emoji and said his medal looked like it had been won in 1924.
French swimmer Yohann Ndoye Brouard said his medal looked like it was from 1924, while teammate Clément Secchi posted that his medal had “crocodile skin”
Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade, who was in one of the most iconic photos from the Olympics after winning gold in the floor final, admitted that she avoids wearing her medals for fear of scratching them.
The Paris 2024 medals were designed by luxury jewelry firm Chaumet. Each includes a piece of iron taken from the Eiffel Tower during different repairs that have been made since it was finished in 1889.
Danish badminton player Viktor Axelsen compared the two gold medals he won at the 2021 Tokyo Summer Olympics and the 2024 Paris Games
