For any athlete competing in an Olympic or Paralympic sport, the ultimate goal is to win a medal at the highest level. The Olympic or Paralympic medal becomes their most cherished possession once they achieve that feat.
Ahead of the Paris 2024 Games, there was significant excitement surrounding the medals, as the central metal piece of each medal featured a fragment of the iconic Eiffel Tower. Athletes would not only be winning a medal, but also a unique piece of the Eiffel Tower for themselves.
For a country like India, Olympic medals hold even more value. With limited success on the global stage, those who win medals are celebrated like superstars — and rightfully so.
However, over the past two days, the news and social media have been flooded with reports that the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic medals are starting to deteriorate, with more than 100 athletes already sending their medals to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for replacement. One of those athletes is Manu Bhaker, who made history by winning two medals for India in a single Games.
Team USA skateboarder Nyjah Huston also shared on social media that his bronze medal had already shown signs of wear, saying it “looks like it went to war and back”, with even the front beginning to chip, all while the Games were still ongoing.
Months after the Games, other athletes have also revealed the condition of their medals. French swimmers Clément Secchi and Yohann Ndoye-Brouard have both shared images of their medals, with Secchi’s gold looking like “crocodile skin”, and Ndoye-Brouard’s bronze showing significant deterioration.
When speaking to Swapnil Kusale, we found that he had experienced the same issue. He said, “One week into our return from Paris, the shine started to wear off.” The condition has only worsened since. “If you look at it now, only bits of the shine coating are left, and it looks bad,” added Kusale. “Yes! I’ll send it back for replacement.”
Danish badminton player Viktor Axelsen also shared a photo of his gold medal from Paris 2024, comparing it to his Tokyo 2020 gold. He noted that the older medal was much shinier in appearance.
To further understand the issue, RevSportz spoke with Sumit Antil, who won back-to-back gold medals at the Paralympics — Tokyo and Paris. He expressed his frustration, saying, “I would want to send it for replacement as well.” Antil, like many other athletes, put in years of hard work to earn this prestigious medal and is understandably upset that its condition has deteriorated so quickly. “It feels bad that such a big accolade’s colour is fading away,” he said. “Even if the Tokyo medal’s shine is now less with time, it’s still in a better condition than the Paris one.”
The Monnaie de Paris, the mint responsible for producing these medals, has been grappling with this issue for at least 15 months before the start of the Games. According to reports, one of their major clients, the Chinese telecom giant Huawei, returned a batch of 12,000 medals due to the same problem, as reported by the French daily La Lettre.
It Is believed that the deterioration is due to the absence of a varnish component, chromium trioxide, which was banned by European authorities. The replacement material used has not been adequately tested.
Currently, a Lyon-based industry expert is assisting the Mint in finding a sustainable solution and working on the replacement process for the Olympic medals.
Regardless of the cause, the handling of this situation by the organisers should have been more efficient. Athletes devote years of their lives to reaching the pinnacle of their sport, and their medals, which represent that hard work, should be synonymous with the respect and care they deserve.