Some athletes report their medals are losing quality, prompting replacements from the French mint
Paris: So, it turns out some of the medals from the Paris Olympics are not holding up too well. Athletes are noticing their medals are losing their shine pretty fast.
The French mint is stepping in to replace these medals after complaints started rolling in. Some athletes even shared photos on social media showing the damage.
While the mint hasn’t disclosed the exact number of medals being replaced, reports suggest it could be over 100. They made a total of 5,084 medals for the Games.
The mint is taking this seriously. They’ve been working on fixing the varnishing process since the first complaints came in back in August. They plan to replace all damaged medals by early 2025.
These medals are pretty special, too. Each one has a piece of the Eiffel Tower embedded in it, designed by the Parisian jewelry house Chaumet.
But issues started popping up even before the Games wrapped up. American skateboarder Nyjah Huston posted a video showing how quickly his bronze medal was deteriorating. Other athletes have echoed his concerns, with some describing their medals as looking like “crocodile skin.”
The IOC is in touch with the national Olympic committees to sort this out. They’ve confirmed that the replacement process will kick off soon, and the mint is figuring out what went wrong.
Each medal has a little piece of iron from the Eiffel Tower, weighing about 18 grams. These pieces were taken from renovations of the tower and kept safe for this purpose.
