American skateboarder Nyjah Huston took to social media to bemoan the quality of his Olympic medals. Huston won a bronze medal in the men's street skateboarding final at the 2024 Paris Olympics on July 29, but the prize wasn't as luxurious as he expected.
“Okay, these Olympic medals look great when they're brand new,” Huston said in a clip shared to Instagram Stories, screenshots of which can be found on X (formerly Twitter). “But after I put them on my skin and sweated a little bit and then let my friends wear them over the weekend, it turns out they're not as high quality as you'd think.”
The photos compare Huston's shiny, brand-new medal with a version from just a few days later that looks noticeably muddier. In the more recent photos, the bronze appears to have worn and peeled.
The quality of the athlete who won the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics was seen to have decreased after a week.
Nyjah Huston, a member of the US skateboarding team, expressed concern about the quality of the Olympic medals:
“These Olympic medals look great when they're brand new, but after I've had them sitting on my skin sweating… pic.twitter.com/7tDD9ZNhEL— AZIZ (@aziz) August 9, 2024
“I mean, look at this thing,” Huston continued. “It looks bad! Even the front is starting to peel a little bit,” he explained, turning the medal over for the audience to see. “I mean, I don’t know… Olympic medals, maybe you need to step up the quality a little bit,” Huston concluded.
On Friday, in response to the growing controversy, a spokesperson for the 2024 Olympic Games said: Daily Mail He said they were planning to replace the athletes' worn-out medals.
“Paris 2024 is aware of a social media report from an athlete that their medal was damaged a few days after it was awarded,” it said. “Paris 2024 is working closely with the Monnaie de Paris, the body responsible for the production and quality control of medals, and the National Olympic Committee of the athlete concerned, to assess the medal and understand the circumstances and cause of the damage.”
“The medals are the most coveted objects of the Games and the most precious to the athletes,” the statement continued. “Damaged medals will be systematically replaced by the Monnaie de Paris and engraved identically to the originals.”
Sunday Times Journalist Edward White had previously complained about the Olympics' budget constraints by reposting Huston's photos. “After an earlier post that highlighted how much more gold there is in a chocolate coin than in an Olympic medal, it turns out the bronze is even worse.”
White was referring to a post he made on Aug. 6 in which he slammed the “stingy misers” who decided to skimp on the most valuable prize for athletes everywhere at the Olympics. He wrote that modern gold medals are “made of 95.4 percent silver (505 grams) and are plated with just 6 grams of pure gold and 18 grams of iron… The last time pure gold medals were given out was in 1912.”
White seems to be slightly wrong about the amount of silver in the gold medal, but he is correct in saying that 1912 was the last time pure gold was awarded at the games.
Olympic bronze medalist Nyjah Huston has criticized the quality of his Paris Olympic medals after his bronze medal started to WORSE. 🥉
“It looks like they're not as good as you'd think… The medals look like they've been to war and back.” picture.twitter.com/zqogSYJExm
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) August 9, 2024
Oxford Economics estimated the value of gold, silver, and bronze Olympic medals and came up with some surprising results. They found that during the 2024 Olympic Games, “each gold medal will be worth” only about $1,027. A silver medal is worth about $535. These estimates do not include the “priceless” Eiffel Tower iron pieces placed in the center of each medal.
Huston's posts become even more meaningful after the bronze medal's estimated value (just $4.60) was revealed. (Yes, you read that right.)
Nyjah Huston gets off to a solid start in the men's street skateboarding final. 👏 #ParisOlympics
📺: E! and Peacock picture.twitter.com/2lOj3PxiAs
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 29, 2024
Forbes Australia The organization reported that the production cost of each gold medal was approximately $950, depending on “the current prices of gold, silver, and iron and the quantity of these materials used in the medal.” If pure gold medals were awarded today, the organization estimates that they would be worth more than $40,000.