American skateboarder Nyjah Huston, who earned a bronze medal in the men's street skateboarding event at the 2024 Paris Olympics, has raised concerns about the quality and durability of his medal. Huston took to social media to express his dissatisfaction with how the medal has deteriorated in a relatively short period.
On Instagram, Huston shared images and commentary on the condition of his medal, noting significant damage. "These Olympic medals look great when they're brand new," Huston remarked. "But after letting them sit on my skin with some sweat and then letting my friends wear them over the weekend, they're apparently not as high quality as you'd think. The front is beginning to chip off, and parts of the back are completely chipped away."
Nyjah Huston claimed that the medal looked like it went to war, stating, "Medal looks like it went to war and back." He also suggested that the quality of the medals might need to be reassessed, saying, "Olympic medals, you gotta maybe step up the quality a little bit."
In response to Huston's social media posts, a spokesperson for the Paris 2024 Organising Committee acknowledged the issue. "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 spokesperson said, according to Daily Mail.
The committee is working closely with Monnaie de Paris, the institution responsible for producing and ensuring the quality of the medals, to investigate the matter. The spokesperson assured that any damaged medals would be replaced, with the new ones being engraved in the same manner as the originals.
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