“Damaged medals will be systematically replaced”: Paris 2024 organizers commit to athletes

Le médaillé de bronze américain en skate a partagé des photos de sa médaille sur les réseaux sociaux. MAXPPP – MAXPPP

The organizers of the 2024 Olympics and the Paris Mint, which manufactured the athletes' medals, have committed to "systematically replacing" any medal that would have been "damaged", after the complaint of an American athlete about his bronze award.

Designed by Chaumet (LVMH group), the manufacture of the 5,084 gold, silver and bronze medals was entrusted to the public establishment of the Paris Mint.

Also read: JO Paris 2024: "The impression that they have just returned from the war", an American skateboarder criticizes the quality of the Olympic medals

Each of them contains a small piece of the Eiffel Tower, from the stocks of the company operating the Parisian monument. American Nyjah Huston, who finished third in the street skateboarding events at La Concorde on July 29, complained a few days later about the poor quality of his bronze medal, which he said was “starting to flake off a little” and “looks like it's been through a war”, according to messages posted on his social networks and relayed by several media outlets.

“Understanding the cause of this damage”

In a statement sent to AFP on Saturday, the organizing committee for the 2024 Olympic Games said it had "taken note of the testimony on the social networks of an athlete whose medal was damaged a few days after its presentation".

degraded quality of Paris Olympics bronze medal after a week.

Nyjah Huston, member of the USA skateboard team, raised concerns over the quality of the Olympic medals:
“these Olympic medals look good when they’re brand new, but after letting it sit on my skin with some sweat for… pic.twitter.com/7tDD9ZNhEL

— SAINT (@saint) August 9, 2024

The organizer of the Olympic Games specifies that he is "in close contact with the Monnaie de Paris, responsible for the production and quality control of the medals, and with the National Olympic Committee of the athlete concerned, in order to assess the medal concerned to understand the circumstances and cause of this damage.

Only one complaint, for the moment

"Medals are the most coveted items at the Games and the most valuable to athletes. Damaged medals will be systematically replaced by the Paris Mint and engraved identically , it is further indicated. When contacted, a representative of the Monnaie de Paris did not report any other athlete complaints.

Each medal is 85 mm in diameter, 9.2 mm thick, with different weights, 529 g for gold, 525 g for silver and 455 g for bronze.