Olympic Medalist Goes Viral for Exposing Medal’s Shoddy Condition
An Olympics spokesperson vowed that "damaged medals will be systematically replaced."
American skateboarder Nyjah Huston took to his social media to lament the quality of the Olympic medals. Huston took bronze in the men's street skateboarding final on July 29 at the 2024 Paris Olympics, but the prize wasn’t as luxurious as he expected.
"Alright, so these Olympic medals look great when they are brand new," Huston said in a clip shared to his Instagram Stories, screenshots of which remain on X (formerly Twitter). "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 are apparently not as high quality as you would think."
The photos contrast Huston’s gleaming, brand-new medal with a noticeably muddier-looking version from just a few days later. In the more recent photos, the bronze appears to be corroded and peeling off.
degraded quality of Paris Olympics bronze medal after a week.
— SAINT (@saint) August 9, 2024
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
"I mean, look at that thing,” Huston continued. “It's looking rough! Even the front is starting to chip off a little," he explained as he turned the medal for viewers to see. "So I don't know…Olympic medals, you gotta maybe step up the quality a little bit," Huston concluded.
On Friday, in response to the growing controversy, a spokesperson for the 2024 Olympic games told The Daily Mail that they plan to replace athletes' deteriorated medals.
"Paris 2024 is aware of a social media report from an athlete whose medal is showing damage a few days after it was awarded," the statement read. "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 medals are the most coveted objects of the Games and the most precious for the athletes," the statement continued. "Damaged medals will be systematically replaced by the Monnaie de Paris and engraved in an identical way to the originals."
Sunday Times journalist Edward White previously reposted Huston's images, lamenting the Olympics’ budgetary limitations. “No sooner had the dust settled on an earlier post highlighting the fact that there's more gold in a chocolate coin than there is in an Olympic medal, it seems the bronze is even worse.”
White is referring to a post he made on August 6 in which he lambasted “the scuttery ould skinflints” at the Olympics who decided to cheap out on the most treasured prize of athletes everywhere. He explained that modern gold medals are made of “95.4 percent silver (505 grams) and plated with only 6 grams of pure gold and 18 grams of iron…The last time pure gold medals were awarded was back in 1912.”
White seems to be slightly off about the amount of silver in a gold medal, but he is correct in saying 1912 was the last time pure gold was awarded at the games.
Olympic bronze medalist Nyjah Huston calls out the quality of the Paris Olympics medals after his bronze medal began DETERIORATING. ????
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) August 9, 2024
“They’re apparently not as high quality as you’d think…The medals looking like it went to war and back.” pic.twitter.com/zqogSYJExm
Oxford Economics estimated the value of gold, silver, and bronze Olympic medals and came to some surprising conclusions. They found that “the value of each gold medal” during the 2024 Olympic games is only about $1,027. A silver medal is worth roughly $535. Not included in those estimates are the “priceless” pieces of Eiffel Tower iron which are inserted into the center of each medal.
Huston’s posts make a lot more sense after the estimated value of a bronze medal is revealed—a measly $4.60. (Yes, you read that correctly.)
Nyjah Huston gets off to a solid start in the men’s street skateboarding final. ???? #ParisOlympics
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 29, 2024
????: E! and Peacock pic.twitter.com/2lOj3PxiAs
Forbes Australia reported that each gold medal costs about $950 to produce “based on the spot price of gold, silver, and iron … and the amount of those materials that are used for the medal.” The outlet estimated that if pure gold medals were awarded today, they’d be worth over $40,000.