Nyjah Huston Shows Tarnished Olympic Bronze Medal Days After Win: ‘Step Up the Quality’

Team USA skateboarder Nyjah Huston, who won a bronze medal at the Olympics on July 29, posted a video to his Instagram story on the night of Aug. 8, suggesting that Olympic medals were not as high quality as some might expect. 

“Alright so 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, before proceeding to show viewers a close up view of the medal.

“I mean look at that thing. It’s looking rough. Even the front. It’s starting to chip off a little. So yeah I don’t know, Olympic medals, you maybe gotta step up the quality a little bit.”

Parts of the medal appeared to look rusted and dull, especially when reflected in the sunlight. The back side of the medal, which features an illustration of the Greek goddess of victory, Nike, looked particularly worn out and it appeared as though some of the surface coating had chipped off.

One of Huston’s followers jokingly responded to the story saying “Looks like ya won that thing in 1982, mate.”

Olympic medals are made of various different materials depending on the type of medal in question. During the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, the gold medals were mostly made of pure silver, with 6 grams of gold plating placed on top. Silver medals were made of pure silver, while bronze medals were made of 95% copper and 5% zinc.

For the medals accompanying this year’s Olympics,, the Paris 2024 Athletes’ Commission decided that the  medals should contain a piece of original iron from the Eiffel Tower. 

In an emailed statement to TIME, a Paris 2024 spokesperson said: "Paris 2024 is aware of a social media report from an athlete whose medal is showing damage a few days after it was awarded. Paris 2024 is working closely with the Monnaie de Paris, the institution tasked with the production and quality control of the medals, and together with the National Olympic Committee of the athlete concerned, in order to appraise the medal to understand the circumstances and cause of the damage."

They added: "The medals are the most coveted objects of the Games and the most precious for the athletes. Damaged medals will be systematically replaced by the Monnaie de Paris and engraved in an identical way to the originals."