Over 200 damaged Paris Olympics and Paralympics medals to be replaced
Paris, France (AFP) —The mint in France responsible for producing medals for the Paris Olympics and Paralympics has received 220 requests to replace ones won at the Games, it told AFP on Friday.
Some athletes have complained their medals have been discoloured or chipped, sometimes within weeks of the Games ending last year.
The mint, the Monnaie de Paris, said the replacement medals would be identical to the originals but a protective varnish would be added to increase their durability.
“The Monnaie de Paris has replaced some of them and is continuing its replacement operation at the request of the athletes,” it said in a statement.
It said it had “done everything possible, from August 2024, to ensure the replacement of the medals concerned”.
The International Olympic Committee said in January it would systematically replace “defective” medals.
The French mint prefers to call them “damaged”.
Some Olympians from the Paris Games have taken to social media to share photos of the state of their medals.
One of the first was American skateboarder Nyjah Huston, who won bronze in the street skateboarding competition on July 29.
Ten days later he posted a picture of his medal, complaining about its quality.
“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.
“It’s looking rough. Even the front. It’s starting to chip off a little.”
French swimmer Yohann Ndoye Brouard published a photo on social media to show how his bronze medal from the Olympic 4x100m medley relay had badly discoloured on both sides.
The 220 medals to be replaced represent four percent of the 5,084 awarded at the Paris Olympics and Paralympics.
The medals were designed by the French luxury jewellery and watch brand Chaumet, and created by the French mint.
They include preserved pieces of iron from the original Eiffel Tower, which were put into storage after renovation work in the 20th century.
The issues with the medal were first revealed by French online media outlet La Lettre.
It reported the production process had to be changed at short notice after new regulations banned a component of the varnish initially intended to be used and it “had to be replaced at short notice”.
