More than 100 athletes who had won medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics and Paralympics have returned them due to quality issues.
The problems emerged shortly after the games, when French swimmer Maxime Grousset and US skateboarder Nyjah Huston pointed out the poor quality of their medals. Both reported that they had noticed cracks and flaking within two weeks of the competitions. Huston expressed particular disappointment, saying his medal looked like it had “survived a war.” French swimmers Yohann Ndoye Brouard and Clément Secchi also showed their medals with cracks and peeling lacquer.
According to the French newspaper La Lettre, the medals were manufactured by the Paris Mint, which has already dismissed several leading staff members, including the head of quality control, in response to the criticism.
The cause of the problems appears to be a faulty lacquer used for the medals, as reported by the newspaper. The defects were caused by a new EU directive that bans the use of chromium oxide in lacquers. As the mint was not prepared for this change, it had to use a substitute lacquer in the short term, which proved to be inadequate.
The damage to the Paris Mint is likely to be substantial. In addition to the dismissal of top executives, a significant financial loss is expected due to the production of new medals and compensation payments.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) stated that all damaged medals will be replaced. The Paris Mint and the Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games are working closely together to ensure that all affected athletes receive their medals in good condition, it was said.
As La Lettre reported earlier, the Paris Mint also faced criticism from its largest foreign customer, Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei. The company, which regularly orders medals to award to its top employees, had already noticed some batches of faulty medals in October 2023, with more than 12,000 defective medals being sent back to Paris.
The mint made another blunder earlier this year when it produced 270 million Euro-cent coins with a new design without waiting for the European Commission’s approval. The commission ultimately rejected the coins, citing that the stars representing Europe were not legible. As a result, the mint had to destroy the coins.