IOC finally to repair Nyjah Huston’s Paris skateboarding medal: What actually went wrong?

Olympic skateboarder Nyjah Huston will soon have his prized Paris 2024 bronze medal restored, following a widespread issue that has affected more than a hundred athletes across various sports.In an exclusive update to TMZ Sports on May 26, 2025, Huston confirmed that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has taken possession of his damaged medal for repairs, rather than replacing it entirely, a move the athlete welcomed, saying he preferred to keep the original.“I think it’s actually a lot cooler than just replacing it,” Huston said, “because I would still like to have my original medal.”The damage to Huston’s medal, won during the men’s street skateboarding competition on July 29, 2024, first became public in August 2024 when he posted a video showing visible peeling and chipping. He said the medal deteriorated quickly after exposure to sweat and handling by friends, calling its condition “rough” and even likening it to having “been to war.”Huston is not alone. British diver Yasmin Harper, French swimmers Yohann Ndoye-Brouard and Clément Secchi, and Irish rowers Daire Lynch and Philip Doyle are among the athletes who reported their medals fading, chipping, or cracking within days of winning them. Harper said her bronze medal “tarnished a bit” before she had even left Paris. Doyle’s medal, he told officials, was “smashed, almost destroyed.”The widespread complaints prompted the IOC and the Paris 2024 Organising Committee to investigate, leading to the announcement that defective medals will be replaced with identical versions, engraved to match the originals. The Monnaie de Paris, the official French state mint that manufactured the medals, is overseeing the replacement process, which has been underway since August 2024, when the medal maker initially vowed to replace Huston’s bronze following his public complaint.“The medals are the most coveted objects of the Games and the most precious for the athletes,” the Monnaie de Paris told TMZ Sports last year, pledging to replace all damaged medals. A spokesperson later told AFP that the mint had already replaced dozens and would continue to do so “in the same professional manner.”The medals from the Paris Olympics were designed by luxury French jeweler Chaumet and produced by the Monnaie de Paris. A key design feature included a polished hexagonal piece of iron sourced from the Eiffel Tower, embedded into each gold, silver, and bronze medal. While visually striking, the construction came with complications.Each bronze medal, made of an alloy of copper, tin, and zinc, weighed approximately 455 grams. While aesthetically pleasing, bronze is more susceptible to moisture and oxidation. This vulnerability was exacerbated by a last-minute regulatory change: a European Union directive banned the use of chromium trioxide, a key component in the traditional varnish used to protect the medals. The Monnaie de Paris was forced to substitute the varnish shortly before production, without sufficient time for quality testing.The result: medals that looked prestigious but failed to hold up under normal conditions. Athletes reported surface tarnishing, flaking, and peeling, often after nothing more than brief contact with skin or sweat.Adding to the controversy, French media outlet La Lettre revealed that more than 100 medals have already been returned. The issue led to a major shake-up at the Paris Mint, with the resignation or dismissal of key figures including industrial director Jacky Frehel, production director Éric Matte, and head of quality Hélène Juton between October 2024 and January 2025.Speaking to AFP, the Paris Mint dismissed the IOC's use of the term "defective," instead describing the medals as "damaged"—a distinction that underscored the tension surrounding the controversy. The medals' production involved at least 30 intricate stages, relying on the traditional savoir-faire of the Monnaie de Paris, one of France’s oldest and most prestigious public institutions, founded in 1864 by Charles II.The Mint has a long Olympic history, having also crafted medals for the Athens 1896 and Paris 1924 Games.The medal debacle has become a full-blown PR crisis for the IOC and Paris 2024 organizers. As memes and criticism flooded social media, the reputation of the Games—and its corporate sponsors—took a hit. Some fans mocked the medals as resembling "crocodile skin," while others sarcastically labeled them "Paris 1924 editions."The situation has triggered broader concerns over the sustainability strategy used to produce the medals. The Paris 2024 Games had touted its medals as environmentally responsible, using recycled materials from electronic waste. However, some metallurgists now argue that the recycling process may have compromised the quality and durability of the bronze medals in particular.The Monnaie de Paris previously faced a similar issue with another high-profile client—Huawei—which returned over 12,000 cracked medals awarded to employees, also due to problems with varnishing.While the medal damage has cast a shadow over what should have been a moment of celebration, efforts are underway to correct the issue. The IOC says replacements or repairs will be completed in the coming weeks.As for Huston, he's keeping his focus on the future, and a possible second Olympic medal. The 30-year-old skater told TMZ Sports he hopes to compete at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. “I can’t say I’m going out there expecting another medal,” he said, “but I’ll be working hard to stay healthy and keep up with the young guns.”