Paris Olympic stars return their medals in frustration

No one can take away the success of the medal winners at last year’s Olympic Games in Paris. However, the medal sometimes doesn’t last quite as long, as many athletes find out. Your precious metal is rapidly deteriorating.

More than 100 medalists from last year have now sent their medals back to the IOC, writes the French newspaper “La Lettre”. Their reason for complaint: the inferior quality of their award. The bronze medals are said to be particularly affected. The surface of them peels off, and after a short time the precious metal looked as if it had to survive some turbulence.

US skateboarder Nyjah Houston complained back in August, shortly after the Games: “These Olympic medals look great when they’re brand new, but after wearing them with a little sweat on my skin and friends wearing them over the weekend, It seems like they’re not that high quality.”

The Frenchman Clement Secchi, who swam to third place in the medley relay in front of his own audience in Paris, compared the quality of his bronze medal to “crocodile skin”. His swimmer colleague Yohann Ndoye-Brouard speculated that the medal could date from 1924 – the Summer Olympics were also taking place in Paris then.

The matter is becoming increasingly embarrassing for the manufacturer and the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Dissatisfied athletes could send their medals back and get new ones from the National Olympic Committee in France, the IOC said. The state mint Monnaie de Paris, where the medals were made, must now produce replacements – hopefully of better quality. The affair is said to have had personnel consequences at Monnaie de Paris: According to “La Lettre”, three responsible employees lost their jobs.