Hard-earned hardware belonging to many Olympians and Paralympians from the Paris 2024 Games has deteriorated to the point of requiring replacement, according to media. Upward of 100 athletes are said to have returned their tarnished medals, which bear little resemblance to the shiny gold, silver or bronze tokens they brought home from Paris in August and September.
French mint responds
“The Monnaie de Paris has taken the issue of damaged medals very seriously since the first exchange requests in August, and has mobilized its internal teams,” the French mint, which produced 5,084 gold, silver and bronze medals for the Games, told the Associated Press. “Since then, the company has modified and optimized its relative varnishing process. The Monnaie de Paris will replace all damaged medals at the athletes’ request during the first quarter of 2025.”
Following the divulgence of Huston’s concerns, more and more athletes began reporting quality issues with their new hardware, comparing the flaking exterior surface to historical artifacts or “crocodile skin.”
IOC will replace
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is in contact with athletes and has promised a prompt replacement for all defective medals. “Damaged medals will be systematically replaced by the Monnaie de Paris and engraved in an identical way to the originals,” the IOC said.
The mint’s varnishing process was altered two years ago when a former ingredient, chromium trioxide, was banned. The 2024 Games isn’t the first organization to see the flaking defects in its batch of medals–in 2023, Chinese tech corporation Huawei returned more than 12,000 cracking medals, which are usually awarded to employees.
The quality issues behind the Paris Olympic medals were first brought to light while Paris 2024 was still underway. In August, Olympic skateboarding bronze medallist Nyjah Huston came forward about a tarnished medal in August, posting images of a flaking, worn-looking medal just 10 days after receiving it.
No sooner had the dust settled on an earlier post highlighting the fact that there’s more gold in a chocolate coin than there is in an Olympic medal, it seems the bronze is even worse. Team USA skateboarder Nyjah Huston revealed his Olympic medal might as well be made from… pic.twitter.com/AyGr2PWZ1p
— Edward White (@Editorialz) August 9, 2024
Following the divulgence of Huston’s concerns, more and more athletes began reporting quality issues with their new…
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