An Olympic skateboarder has criticised the quality of the Paris 2024 medals after his has started to visibly deteriorate.
US athlete Nyjah Huston revealed that a week after placing third in the men’s street skateboarding final on 29 July, his bronze medal has appeared to chip and lose its colour.
“These Olympic medals look great when they are brand new but after letting it sit on my skin with some sweat and letting friends wear it over the weekend, they are apparently not as high quality as you would think,” he told his followers on Instagram.
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Turning the medal over, he said: “Even the front is starting to chip off a little. Olympic medals – maybe got to step up the quality a little bit.”
Designed by Paris jewellery house Chaumet, each medal given out at this summer’s event has two different sides.
The first features a 18g hexagonal token which is made from iron taken from the Eiffel Tower. The centrepiece token is surrounded by rigged grooves that evoke rays of light.
The second features the Greek goddess of victory, Nike, as she has done at every Olympic Games since 1928 – with the Acropolis to one side and the Eiffel Tower to the other.
Pic: @nyjah
Pic: @nyjah
The bronze medal in particular weighs 525g and is made from copper, tin and zinc alloy.
But, according to Huston, the prize is perhaps more to look at and display than actually wear.
“I guess the medals are meant to be in cases,” he added.
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All the medals come with a dark-blue box from Chaumet and a certificate from the Eiffel Tower Operating Co to illustrate the iron pieces came from the monument.
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