The reality behind 'tarnished' medals from the 2024 Paris Olympics was revealed just days after being handed out, one athlete claimed at the time.
As more than 100 athletes who won gold, silver, or bronze at the Paris Games return their medals over the quality of the product, all eyes are on how the products ended up like they have for so many of the athletes who won big in the French capital.
The designer of the medals, LVMH, has since spoken out about the product and defects, saying they had no place in actually producing them. That responsibility was with the Monnaie de Paris (Paris Mint), which told LADbible it didn't comment how many medals have been returned.
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It denied claims from French outlet La Lettre that three people had lost their jobs over the matter.
The issue of medals deteriorating in quality was something spotted almost immediately by one athlete who won in the BMX freestyle event last summer.
Natalya Diehm is an Australian Olympian who won bronze in the Paris Games. But within hours of getting her medal, she reported it looking worse for wear.
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"Crazy how quick and how much this tarnished from day one," Diehm wrote on Instagram.
"I wanted to share this so that I don’t have to try and hide it anymore.
"Hopefully will get this fixed but waiting to hear back. I know quite a few of the bronze medals are doing the same thing but not to this degree."
You can see her video on the quality of her medal here:
The post from Diehm appeared to show the coating of her bronze medal coming away in areas of it, both on the front and back as well as the side rim.
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"I'm not sure why this is happening to mine, I haven't taken it out partying, it's not from people touching it too much," Diehm explained.
She also showed it off next to another bronze medal won by Australia, with her compatriot's in brilliant condition in comparison.
Speaking to Fox FM in Melbourne, Diehm explained that she raised the issue to the Australian Olympic Committee who told her it wasn't the first time such an issue had been reported.
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"It happened in 2016 Rio Olympics as well," Diehm claimed.
Reports from the New York Times say that Monnaie de Paris has identified the issue with some medals. It claims there has been a glitch due to a 'technical issue related to varnish'.
"The mint discovered that the varnish used to prevent oxidation was defective," the paper reported.
Reports claim the varnishing recipe is a 'trade secret' but that the issue was due to changing to the recipe due to European Union regulations banning chromium trioxide. This is a toxic chemical used to prevent metal from rusting.
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LVMH confirmed that damaged medals will be replaced if returned.
Topics: Olympics, Sport, Viral, World News
Tom Earnshaw