Paris Olympics slammed after athlete shows shocking quality of bronze medal a week after winning it
The Team USA skateboarder took to Instagram to show people the reality of a bronze Olympic medal
The 2024 Paris Olympics have been called out by a competing athlete over the state of their medal quality - and now viewers are expressing their own disappointment.
A skateboarder for Team USA, Nyjah Huston, won a bronze medal on 29 July at the Olympics during the men's street final.
Jagger Eaton, also of Team USA, won silver and Japan’s Yuto Horigome took home the gold.
Huston is clearly a man who shares exactly what's on his mind - as he took to Instagram to reveal that the quality of his bronze medal is bad.
Advert
In an Instagram Story, he said: "Alright, so 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 letting my friends wear it over the weekend. They're apparently not as high quality as you'd think.
"Look at that though. It's looking rough. Even the front, it's starting to chip off a little.
"So yeah I don't know, Olympic medals, we gotta step up the quality a little bit."
A spokesperson for the 2024 Olympics told Mail Sport: "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."
Since the complaint became public knowledge, people are expressing their disappointment over medal quality.
One person wrote: "For that authentic 'spent a year at the bottom of the Seine' effect."
Another said: "The Paris Olympics has been a disgrace from the opening ceremony disrespecting the Last Supper. They should have changed the venue."
Huston joked in a further post that his medal looked like it had been 'to war and back.'
The International Olympic Committee told Tyla: "The medals are the most coveted objects of the Games and the most precious for the athletes. Damaged medals will be systematically replaced by Monnaie de Paris and engraved in an identical way to the originals."
It's not yet known if Huston, who won 12 gold medals when competing in the X Games and six gold medals at the World Championships, will seek to have his medal replaced.
Kya Buller