They say medals may tarnish, but memories last a lifetime.
For American skateboarder Nyjah Huston, that saying has proven true — perhaps sooner than anticipated.
After winning bronze in men’s street skateboarding on July 29, Huston took to social media on Thursday, showing off his medal. It was not looking shiny and new.
“Alright, so these Olympic medals look great when they are brand new,” he said in an Instagram stories post, “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.”
Huston pointed the camera to show the poor condition of his bronze medal: “Olympic medals, you gotta maybe step up the quality a little bit.”
British diver Yasmin Harper was asked about the condition of her bronze medal from the synchronized three metre event. According to the BBC, she said it looked “a little discoloured.”
“There’s been some small bits of tarnishing I will admit, yes.”
Does it bother her?
“No,” she said, according to the BBC, “because it’s still a medal.”
Why do these brand new medals seem to tarnish so quickly? What exactly are the medals made of?
Alongside the widely talked-about 18-gram hexagonal piece of wrought iron from the Eiffel Tower, the Paris 2024 Olympic organizing committee said the gold and silver medals are made entirely of solid silver, with the gold medals featuring six grams of gold.
The bronze medals are comprised of copper, tin and zinc.
The medals are presented in a navy blue keepsake box equipped with two locks for secure storage, along with an official Olympic pin and a certificate of authenticity. British rower Imogen Grant recently showcased the details of this keepsake box in a TikTok video, where she provided a closer look at its features.
“Medal looking like it went to war and back,” Huston added on Instagram with a raised eyebrow and crying with laughter emoji. “I guess the medals are meant to be in cases.”
The Paris Games organizers have looked into the complaints from athletes about the quality of their medals.
“The medals are the most coveted objects of the Games and the most precious for the athletes,” said an IOC spokesperson, according to the BBC. “Damaged medals will be systematically replaced by the Monnaie de Paris and engraved in an identical way to the originals.”