Since the end of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, several athletes have denounced on their social networks the poor quality of the medals

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Paris Olympians denounce poor condition of their medals

Before the start of the Olympic Games in Paris, the organization announced that for this edition the medals would have a special value, since those athletes who managed to get any of them would not only get the medal, but also a physical piece of Paris because in each of them would be integrated a fragment of the Eiffel Tower.

Thus, the medals created by the French jeweler Chaumet for Paris 2024 had inside them an original piece of the most famous icon of France and one of the most important structures in the world. However, despite this creative initiative, the medals have not turned out to be as high quality as expected, considering their importance.

The Paris 2024 Olympic Games ended on August 11, and a few months later the athletes showed on their social networks, incorporating images of the medals with their complaint, the poor quality of the medals, as they have worn out noticeably, especially the bronze ones, which have lost their color and have a very deteriorated appearance.

Although it is true that the Olympic athletes have preferred to take it with some humor, as they have joked and ironized in their social networks about the poor quality of the medals, the complaints have opened a debate. For it is not the first time that athletes have publicly shown how quickly the medals lose their color and shine.

The poor quality of Olympic medals

In August, the same month in which the Olympics ended, U.S. medalist Nyjah Huston, who won bronze in street skateboarding, criticized on his social networks how short-lived the shine and good condition of his medal had been: “These medals look great when they're new. But after wearing them and getting a little sweaty or letting my friends wear them over the weekend, it's obvious they're not as good quality as you'd think.”

A harsh criticism to which a few days ago, before the end of 2024, was added that of several Olympic medalists. Specifically, on December 27, French swimmers Clément Secchi and Yohann Ndoye-Brouard, who won bronze in the 4x100-meter medley relay, published photographs of their medals. Secchi accompanied his image with the description “crocodile skin”; while Ndoye-Brouard joked by posting an image of his medal with the text “Paris 1924”.

Likewise, and previously, another member of the French 4x100m freestyle relay, Maxime Grousset, who also won the bronze medal, had already mentioned on his social networks the poor condition of his trophy: “Mine is very nice, but it is true that it looks like it is destroyed, a little rusty”.

In this line, the Spanish athlete Iris Tió recognized in an interview in a Spanish media that she was afraid to take out her medal too much because of the wear and tear it was suffering: “Everyone's bronze medals look like they are defective, they are wearing out and we have to change them”.

For its part and in response to this criticism, the Paris Mint, responsible for the manufacture of the medals, together with the Paris 2024 organizing committee, has announced that all athletes who have a problem with their medals, related to wear and tear, should file complaints and will be given new medals. the medals will be replaced with new ones.