2024 Paris Olympics: Some medals are being replaced from Summer Games after evidence of deterioration surfaces

Some of the medals that were won by athletes at the 2024 Paris Olympics were beginning to deteriorate just months after winning them. However, according to the Associated Press, the French mint is going to replace several medals from the 2024 Paris Olympics and Paralympics after athletes raised concerns about the condition of the medals.

The Monnaie of Paris didn’t inform the AP exactly how many medals would be replaced, but the French website “La Lettre” revealed that over 100 medals are being returned.

“The Monnaie de Paris has taken the issue of damaged medals very seriously since the first exchange requests in August, and has mobilized its internal teams,” the French mint said in a statement. “Since then, the company has modified and optimized its relative varnishing process. The Monnaie de Paris will replace all damaged medals at the athletes’ request during the first quarter of 2025.”

A grand total of 5,084 medals were made for the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games this past summer. The Parisian jewelry house Chaumet designed the medals for the 2024 Olympics, and they were hexagonal chunks of iron that were from the Eiffel Tower.

Last month, French bronze medal-winning Olympic swimmer Yohann Ndoye-Brouard posted a photo of his prize from the 4×100-meter medley relay. Significant wear and tear is visible on both sides of the medal.

“Paris 1924,” Ndoye-Brouard captioned the photos, suggesting his roughly five-month-old medal looks a century old.

Ndoye-Brouard shares this problem with his teammate Clement Secchi. Earlier that day, French newspaper Le Méridional published a picture of Secchi’s similarly decaying bronze medal. Each medal contains a small piece of iron from the Eiffel Tower.

The French athletes’ complaints echo a concern raised the day after the 2024 Paris Olympics closing ceremony. Ilona Maher, a bronze-winning rugby player representing the United States, experienced such problems with her medal. Maher appeared on “Late Night with Seth Meyers” on Aug. 12, revealing her medal was already chipping.

“It’s gorgeous, [but] it is wearing a little bit,” Maher said. “It’s a solid hunk of metal; it’s a great piece of metal.”

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