Poor quality 2024 Olympic medals

US skateboarder Nyjah Huston says his Paris 2024 Olympic bronze medal rusted just over a week after being awarded it.

Nyjah Huston won the bronze medal in the men's individual street skateboarding event on July 29. He finished behind compatriot Jagger Eaton who won silver and Japan's Yuto Horigome who won gold.

Yesterday, August 8, after returning to the US, Huston took to Instagram to reveal that the quality of the medal was not as high as imagined. Accordingly, he recorded a video and took photos showing that the bronze medal had rust in many places on the back.

“The medals looked great when they were new,” Huston said. “But that changed after getting sweaty and having my friends try them on last weekend.”

The 29-year-old athlete said the organizers needed to review the quality of the medals. He also joked that it looked like he had been through war before returning.

The 2024 Olympic medals feature an original hexagonal steel plate on the front, taken from the famous Eiffel Tower. According to the host country, some of the Eiffel Tower’s ironwork was removed during renovations in the 20th century and has been carefully preserved. Meanwhile, the reverse of the medals features the Greek goddess of victory, Nike, similar to the designs from Athens 2004.

The back of the Paralympic medals has a similar design. But the front features a graphic of the Eiffel Tower, viewed from below.

Huston is a famous skateboarder, a 12-time X Games champion, a six-time world champion. In addition, he has won nine silver medals and four bronze medals in both competitions.

Huston's comments continue to add to the ongoing problems with the 2024 Olympics. Previously, host France was heavily criticized for its "religious insult" to the opening ceremony, and the unsafe water of the Seine River affected plans to host the triathlon and 20km marathon swimming.

At the athletes’ village, many athletes complained about the lack of air conditioning in their rooms. The organizing committee’s controversial proposal to rent air conditioning to teams caused much controversy. In addition, the quality and quantity of food was also complained about in the early days, but the organizing committee immediately increased the amount of food to meet demand.