Olympic athlete forced to return medal just weeks after competition after making surprising revelation

An Irish athlete has been forced to return the medal he was awarded at this year's Olympic Games in Paris after noticing an unexpected fault.

Daire Lynch joins a whole host of professional sports men and women who noticed the error with their prestigious achievement, despite the 2024 tournament only having come to an end last weekend.

Championship rower Lynch walked away from this year's games with a bronze, after he and partner Philip Doyle placed third in the double sculls.

The Irish duo narrowly lost out to Romania, who came out on top with a gold, and the Netherlands, who achieved silver.

Despite Lynch and Doyle's initial joy, their victory has been somewhat tainted by the fact that one of the two of them has had to return the glorious medal they won for their hard-work and staggering achievement.

The discrepancy isn't due to administration errors, however, nor sportsmanlike misconduct - both of which have seen several Olympians lose their medals in the past.

No, Lynch has become the latest star to return his medal after he noticed its condition had started declining after just over two weeks.

Organisers have since put out a request that all medals that appear tarnished or marked in some way be temporarily returned and investigated.

Speaking on Irish TV last week, Doyle said: "Mine is gone, wrecked. It's nearly gone the next layer down."

Lynch agreed: "I wanted to keep mine but they wanted to take it away for research. They want to see what is wrong with the medals."

"Some of the gold but not too many but the bronze seems to be a chronic issue," Doyle continued.

The shocking news comes just days after Team USA star Nick Itkin took to social media to show his followers how damaged his own bronze medal was starting to appear, just a matter of days after he won it.

In a video posted to TikTok, the championship fencer demonstrated to viewers that the medal had become littered with scratches and dark marks on both sides already.

Team GB diver Yasmine Harper - who won Bronze alongside partner Scarlett Mew Jensen - previously claimed that the Olympic medals had started deteriorating before athletes had even left Paris.

"There's been some small bits of tarnishing I will admit, yes," she said.

"I've looked at mine. It's like water or anything that gets on the metal is making it go a little discoloured. I'm not sure."

Olympics reps previously said: "Paris 2024 is aware of a social media report from an athlete whose medal is showing damage a few days after it was awarded.

"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."