Sawt Falasteen - Over 200 defective Paris Olympics and Paralympics medals to be replaced

Athletes have complained that their medals have become tarnished or chipped, sometimes within weeks of the Games ending last year.

"The French Mint (Monnaie de Paris) has replaced some of them and is continuing its replacement operation at the request of the athletes," it said in a statement.

The International Olympic Committee said in January it would systematically replace "defective" medals.

The French Mint prefers to call them "damaged".

It said it had "done everything possible, from August 2024, to ensure the replacement of the medals concerned".

The replacement medals will be identical to the originals, it said but a protective varnish will be added to increase their durability.

Some Olympians from the Paris Games have taken to social media to share photos of the state of their medals.

One of the first to do so was American skateboarder Nyjah Huston, who won bronze in the street skateboarding competition on July 29.

Ten days later he posted a picture of his medal, complaining about its quality.

"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 then letting my friends wear it over the weekend, they're apparently not as high quality as you would think," he said.

"It's looking rough. Even the front. It's starting to chip off a little."

The 220 medals to be replaced represent four percent of the 5,084 awarded at the Paris Olympics and Paralympics.

C.Hamad--SF-PST