A few days ago, we reported that some Olympic medallists in Paris were seeing how fast their medals were deteriorating. It seemed to only affect Bronze medals: after just a few months, exposed to air, humidity and fingers of friends and families, the medals degraded to the point that French swimmer Yohann Ndoye Brouard joked that it looked like "Paris 1924".
It wasn't an isolated incident. A few days ago, Spanish boxer Enmanuel Reyes Plá also published a photo of his bronze medal on LinkedIn. "When I won my medal at Paris 2024, I never imagined I'd have to search the internet for how to take care of it. But here we are".
"Outrageous? Of course. Surprising? Not at all. As athletes, we are used to facing challenges in the ring, but we never thought the real challenge would come after the victory", and added that it's not about vanity, but "protecting what symbolizes collective effort: mine, my team's, and everyone who believed in me", that should "last forever".
Back in August, the Paris 2024 Organising Committee already took notice that many bronze medals were being degraded, and said that "The medals are the most precious objects of the Games and will be systematically replaced by the Monnaie de Paris, with identical engravings to the originals". However, they may have to replace all of them...