This is one of the big hiccups of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games: the quality of the medals. With honored athletes who don't let up.
After the praise, the breath often threatens to fall again.
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games will have been no exception on this point, the laurels already belonging to the past when the criticism becomes stubborn. Among the failures of these generally successful Olympics, a hiccup was quickly pointed out. And the problem is far from isolated…
According to the media La Lettre, more than a hundred medals distributed during these 2024 Olympics were returned by athletes unhappy with the quality of their charm. Traces of premature corrosion, scales or even chips, Parisian Olympic jewelry ages quickly and poorly – particularly those in bronze. So much so that the Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (COJO) – and Paralympic Games – already has to be held accountable.
The French swimmers in the 4x100m medley relay, tanned this summer in the waters of La Défense Arena, can attest to this. Maxime Grousset, Clément Secchi and Yohann Ndoye Brouard, all deplore the advanced and accelerated state of decrepitude of their medal. This will not have been without consequences for the Monnaie de Paris, in charge of producing the said rewards.
Three directors fired from Monnaie de Paris
The three directors of production and quality of the institution mentioned were recently thanked. La Monnaie de Paris citing concerns about alternative varnishes due to a recent European directive banning chromium trioxide, a component previously used to guarantee the shine of its production over time.
« After reading the testimony on social networks of an athlete whose medal was damaged a few days after its presentation, the damaged medals will be systematically replaced by the Monnaie de Paris and engraved identically. », The COJO quickly reacted to the beginnings of the controversy. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) recently assured that the charms in question would be replaced “ in the coming weeks ».
