American skateboarder Nyja Houston won his first Olympic medal in Paris last week.
It’s bronze.
Or at least that’s the case.
Now it’s bronze and black. And it’s still a little damaged.
The Laguna Beach athlete posted a video on his Instagram Stories on Thursday showing off the medal he won in a street skate competition, just 10 days after he won it, things got even worse.
“These Olympic medals looked great when they were brand new. But after letting them sit on my skin for a while with some sweat, and then having my friends wear them over the weekend, it became clear that they weren’t as high quality as you might think. ,” Houston said, showing how the back of his medal looked worn and darker than bronze in several places.
“I mean look at that thing, it looks rough. Even the front is starting to peel off a little bit. So, yeah, I don’t know, Olympic medals, you maybe need to improve the quality a little bit.
Japanese skateboarder Yuto Horigo won his second consecutive Olympic gold medal in the event, while American Jagger Eaton took silver.
Houston also posted a photo of his medal being held by someone who appeared to be hiking. “The medal looks like it went to war and came back,” he wrote in the caption.
Houston also posted a photo of what appears to be a DJ wearing the medal. “At least the medals come with some epic wardrobe ensembles,” he wrote.
He added on another photo: “I guess the medals are in boxes.”
Houston probably knows a thing or two about medals, having won more than two dozen at the World Skateboarding Championships and X Games from 2010 to the present.
Olympic bronze medals are said to be composed of 95% copper and 5% zinc. All Paris Olympic medals also feature a piece of 18-gram hexagonal wrought iron from the Eiffel Tower.
Paris Olympic organizers said in a statement that they were investigating the matter to determine whether Houston should receive an alternative medal.
“Paris 2024 is working closely with the Bureau de Paris, the agency responsible for medal production and quality control, and the National Olympic Committees of the athletes concerned to evaluate the medals to understand their condition and the cause of the damage,” organizers said in a press release expressed in.
“Medals are the most coveted items at the Olympics and the most precious to athletes. Damaged medals will be systematically replaced by the Paris Mint and engraved in the same manner as the originals.
