Poor Quality Paris Olympics Medals To Be Replaced

By: Gyang Dakwo

The 2024 Paris Olympics ended less than six months ago, but some of the medals handed out had an even shorter shelf life.

Now the Paris Mint (Monnaie de Paris) will be replacing a number of medals they gave out to Olympians and Paralympians at the Summer Olympics due to complaints of deterioration and severe tarnishing, according to reports from American website America Online (AOL).

The French mint will work with the 2024 Olympics Organizing Committee to assess each complaint and organize an identical replacement.

Around 100 complaints have come in from Olympians who have seen their medals noticeably degrade. The earliest complaints began in August, less than one month after the Paris Olympics ended.

American Nyjah Huston, who won bronze in men’s street skateboarding in Paris, was one of the first Olympians to call out the quality of his medal. In August he posted an Instagram Story with multiple photos of his bronze medal after a weekend of wearing it and sharing it with friends. The back of the medal was tarnished, and front surface of the medal had started to chip away.”Medal looking like it went to war and back,” Huston wrote.

The medals were designed by Parisian jewelry house Chaumet, and each contains a small piece of the actual Eiffel Tower embedded within.

Meanwhile, the French newspaper 20 Minutes reports that disputes over the quality of the medals heated up in late December after posts from French swimmers Clément Seki and Yoann Ndoye-Bruar. The former shared a photo of his medal in his Instagram stories with peeling coating, captioning it: “Crocodile skin.”

Reports say the Paris Mint suffered a serious blow at certain management levels. CEO Marc Schwartz hastily dismissed three senior production managers: industrial director Jacques Fréhelhem, head of production Eric Matte, responsible for the Olympic medals, and manager for quality, health and safety, and environmental affairs Hélène Yuton.

The Paris Mint is now working with a Lyon-based company specializing in industrial processes and surface treatment to resolve the issue. Over 100 medals have already been returned.