The seemingly ‘degraded’ Bronze medal in question of Nyjah Huston (X)
The American skateboarder Nyjah Huston won Bronze on 29 July. But, a little more than a week later, the Olympian took to Instagram to post a story of their Bronze medal, which now seemed dull and rusted.
Much unnecessary controversy has arisen lately regarding the quality of the Paris Olympic medals, ever since USA skateboarder Nyjah Huston raised concerns about the same, posting pictures of the seemingly degraded Bronze she clinched.
The American skateboarder won Bronze on 29 July. But, a little more than a week later, in fact 10 days later, the Olympian took to Instagram to post a story of their Bronze medal, which now seemed dull, raising concerns about the quality of the medal.
Huston took his concerns to Instagram, posting a story shgowcasing his “degraded” Bronze medal, questioning te quality of the medals that the Olympics have been handing out currently.
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/7oSOY8OxLL
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“Alright so these Olympic medals look great when they’re brand new, but after letting it sit on my skin with some sweat for a little bit and then letting my friends wear it over the weekend, they’re apparently not as high quality as you would think,” he said.
“I mean look at that thing. It’s looking rough. Even the front. It’s starting to chip off a little. So yeah I don’t know, Olympic medals, you maybe gotta step up the quality a little bit.”
The story blew up all over social media with hordes of people lambasting the IOC for seemingly low-quality medals. But, what they all have lost to take into account is simple science.
Bronze medals, produced for the Paris 2024 Olympics especially, are said to be cast with a mix of copper, zinc and tin. When these metals are exposed to air, they react with the air, and as a result form a dull patina on top, which is what the so-called degradation actually is.
The Paris Olympics though assured Olympians that damaged medals shall and will be replaced by them, in any case.
“Paris 2024 is aware of a social media report from an athlete whose medal is showing damage a few days after it was awarded,” said the spokesperson. “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,” said a spokesperson of the Paris Olympics to Time magazine.
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