Paris 2024 officials issue response as second Olympian criticises ‘tarnished’ medals

The medals at the Paris Games, which each contain scrap metal taken from the Eiffel Tower, first came under fire after a video posted by American athlete Nyjah Huston on Thursday.

The skateboarder showed the visible change in the colour of his medal, which had also begun to chip, and suggested they were ‘not as high quality as you would think’.

‘It’s looking rough,’ he added. ‘Even the front is starting to chip off a little.

‘I don’t know, Olympic medals, we gotta step up the quality a little bit. The medal [is] looking like it went to war and back.’

Now, Team GB diver Yasmin Harper has claimed her bronze medal, won alongside Scarlett Mew Jensen in the women’s 3m synchronised diving contest, is also showing signs of deterioration.

‘There has been some small bits of tarnishing, I will admit,’ the Brit said after finishing fifth in the 3m springboard final on Friday.

‘Paris 2024 is working closely with the Monnaie de Paris, the institution tasked with the production and quality control of the medals, and together with the national Olympic committee of the athlete concerned, in order to appraise the medal to understand the circumstances and cause of the damage,’ the statement read.

‘The medals are the most coveted objects of the Games and the most precious for the athletes.

‘Damaged medals will be systematically replaced by the Monnaie de Paris and engraved in an identical way to the originals.’

The bronze medals, which appear to be the only ones affected thus far, contain copper, zinc, tin, and traces of silver.

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