The astonishing reason Olympians are returning their Paris medals
More than 100 medal-winning Olympic athletes are returning the medals they won at the 2024 Paris Games after claiming they have massively deteriorated.
Despite being less than six months on from the Games, many of the medals have lost their lustre and appear much worse for wear, prompting many athletes to turn in the medals for a replacement.
One such medallist is Aussie BMX bronze medallist Natalya Diehm, who took to social media almost immediately after the Games to show just how tarnished the medal had become in a short period of time.
“So once I won bronze, I had so many people ask to see a photo of it or that I should post a video on my stories so that everybody could see it and I didn’t because this literally started to happen day one of me having the medal and I guess I just wanted to keep it quiet for a little,” Diehm said in a video in October.
“It’s unfortunate because the original bronze colour is so pretty."
“I’m not sure why this has happened to mine. I haven’t taken it out partying, it’s not from people touching it so much because this is a comparison to what a bronze medal should look like."
“Mine is one of the worst to come out of the Olympics this year. I’m hoping I can get it fixed or replaced. But this is it up and close.”
Nine News reported that at least six more Aussie athletes aren't happy with the state of their medals, with French website La Lettre finding that there have been more than 100 replacement requests from Olympic and Paralympic athletes from across the world.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) told AFP that the damaged medals are set to be replaced with identical models.
“The Paris 2024 Olympic Games Organising Committee is working closely with the Monnaie de Paris (the French state mint), the institution responsible for the manufacture and quality control of the medals, to assess any complaints about the medals and to understand the circumstances and cause of any damage,” the IOC said.
“Defective medals will be systematically replaced by the Monnaie de Paris and engraved identically. The replacement process should begin in the coming weeks.”
Image credits: Instagram