Near the end of the Olympics a few athletes voiced concern at the condition of their medals just days after earning them, with several showing off their accolades looking significantly weathered in a short amount of time.
Team USA skateboarder Nyjah Huston said on his Instagram Story last year: “After letting it sit on my skin with some sweat for a little bit and letting my friends wear it over the weekend, they’re apparently not as high quality as you’d think. Even the front, it’s starting to chip off a little.”
Now a French publication, La Lettre, has claimed that over 100 athletes have handed back their medals so they can be replaced with ones in better condition.
Designed by LVMH, the Paris 2024 medals have a piece of iron taken from the Eiffel Tower set into the back while the front of the medal depicts Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, as she stands in the Panathenaic Stadium where the Olympic Games were restored back in 1896.
On either side of her are depictions of the iconic Greek building the Acropolis and the Eiffel Tower.
Olympic medals designer responds
That’s a piece of the Eiffel Tower on one side, and a depiction of the Greek goddess of victory on the other (James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images)
That’s the design of the latest bunch of Olympic medals, and LVMH told the Daily Mail they had no responsibility for the actual production of the medals.
The company said that while they might have designed the medals they didn’t make them.
Production of the medals for Paris 2024 was the responsibility of the Monnaie de Paris (Paris Mint), who told LADbible they didn’t comment on the number of medals returned and denied claims from La Lettre that three people had lost their jobs over the matter of the Olympic medals.
They added that every athlete who had sent their medal back to be replaced would be getting a new one soon.
It seems as though the culprit for the degraded appearance of the medal is the switch to a new varnish after the old one was found to contain the carcinogen chromium trioxide, according to La Lettre.
A number of athletes have complained that their medals very quickly stopped looking like they ought to (X/@yohann_2911)
“The Paris 2024 Olympic Games Organizing Committee is working closely with Monnaie de Paris, the institution responsible for the manufacture and quality control of medals, to assess medal claims and understand the circumstances and cause of damage,” a spokesperson for Monnaie de Paris told LADbible in a statement.
“Monnaie de Paris has taken the issue of damaged medals very seriously since the first exchange requests in August, mobilizing its internal teams.
“Monnaie de Paris modified the varnish and optimized its manufacturing process to make it more resistant to certain uses of the medals by athletes.
“The replacement of damaged medals has been initiated in liaison with the IOC and the Paris 2024 organizing committee.
“All damaged medals will be replaced and identically engraved at the request of athletes during the 1st quarter of 2025.”
