Olympic medals may not be as resilient as many have been led to believe.
One medal winner from this year’s Olympic Games in Paris took to Instagram Aug. 8 to share his thoughts on the quality of his medal.
Team USA skateboarder Nyjah Huston claimed in an Instagram video that just some sweat and slight wear caused his bronze medal to erode.
Huston won the bronze in Men’s Skateboarding on July 29.
Fellow Team USA skater Jagger Eaton won silver while Japan’s Yuto Horigome took home gold.
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Team USA’s skateboarding star Nyjah Huston is NOT a fan of the Olympic medal quality. 😅
(📸: @nyjah) pic.twitter.com/rRO7cl7AgI
— theScore (@theScore) August 8, 2024
“Alright so 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 then letting my friends wear it over the weekend, they’re apparently not as high quality as you would think,” Huston said, according to TIME.
Huston then held up the medal in front of his camera.
Should Olympic officials replace all bronze medals?
Yes: 93% (84 Votes)
No: 7% (6 Votes)
“I mean look at that thing. It’s looking rough, even the front. It’s starting to chip off a little. So yeah I don’t know, Olympic medals, you maybe gotta step up the quality a little bit,” he said.
Huston posted the video to his Instagram stories, which automatically expire after 24 hours.
The bronze medal does appear to show signs of wear and tear despite being brand new.
According to TIME, a follower commented on the video, writing “Looks like ya won that thing in 1982, mate.”
TIME reached out to Paris 2024 organizers for comment and did receive a response.
“Paris 2024 is aware of a social media report from an athlete whose medal is showing damage a few days after it was awarded,” the representative told TIME.
“Paris 2024 is working closely with the Monnaie de Paris, the institution tasked with the production and quality control of the medals, and together with the National Olympic Committee of the athlete concerned, in order to appraise the medal to understand the circumstances and cause of the damage.
“The medals are the most coveted objects of the Games and the most precious for the athletes. Damaged medals will be systematically replaced by the Monnaie de Paris and engraved in an identical way to the originals.”
Olympic medals are made up of various materials that differ from year to year.
According to TIME, the 2021 Olympic bronze medals were 95 percent copper and 5 percent zinc.
For the 2024 Olympics, each and every medal contained a small amount of original iron from the Eiffel Tower.
