‘Crocodile skin’: Paris Olympics athletes outraged after medal quality deteriorates rapidly

In a shocking turn of events, Paris Olympics athletes complain that their medals have deteriorated rapidly and look like a replica of what they used to be just four months ago. The news came to light when two French swimmers posted pictures of their bronze medals, which are now in very poor condition (via Daily Mail).

The first instance of the deteriorated medal came to light with a post by French swimmer Yohann Ndoye-Brouard, who was awarded the Bronze medal after coming in third in the men's 4x 100m medley relay.

Replying to a post on X, Brouard wrote, “Paris 1924” along with the picture of his medal, suggesting that the medals had deteriorated so much that it looked like they were from 1924 Olympics and not the most recent one.

Meanwhile, while commenting about his medal quality in an Instagram post, another swimmer, Clément Secchi wrote, “crocodile skin”, in a reference to the apparel bronze irregular patches and worn away colours on many parts of the medal.

Paris Olympics medal quality under the scanner

However, this is not the first time that the quality of Paris Olympic medals has been questioned.

USA skateboarder and bronze medalist Nyjah Huston, 29, wrote in August: “Alright, so these Olympic medals look great when they are brand new. But after letting it sit on my skin with some sweat for a little bit and then letting my friends wear it over the weekend, they are apparently not as high quality as you would think.”

"So yeah, I don’t know, Olympic medals, you maybe gotta step up the quality a little bit." he added.

News of quality problems with Olympic medals has led to widespread ridicule of the organising committee and questions about the overall standard of future events. The organisers of the Paris Olympics will now have to take some serious steps to regain public confidence.