The 2024 Olympic medal may not last.
U.S. rugby star Ilona Maher appeared on “Late Night with Seth Meyers” on Monday and admitted she was “a little hurt” just a few weeks after winning the bronze medal.
Maher, 28, was asked by the comedian if she wore her medal, to which she replied yes, and then said she kept her bronze medal in a pouch made by British Olympic diver Tom Daley. People who knit, crochet, and make crafts.
“It’s very nice, a little bit old,” Maher said of the medal she received after the U.S. women became the first people in Olympic history to win a medal in rugby sevens. “It’s a very solid piece of metal, a nice piece of metal.”
Maher’s story comes less than a week after American skateboarder Nyjah Huston said the bronze medal he won in Paris this summer appeared to be tarnished.
Huston posted several photos to her Instagram account, revealing that even days after winning the medal, its quality was less than perfect.
It will be held on July 31, 2024 in Paris, France. Getty Images for USOPC
“Now, this Olympic medal looked great when it was new,” Houston wrote in an Instagram Story, “but after leaving it on my skin for a while in a sweaty state and having some friends wear it over the weekend, it seems like the quality wasn’t as good as I thought it would be. It looks awful.”
“As far as Olympic medals go, we need to improve on the quality a bit,” he added.
British synchronized diver Yasmin Harper also told reporters during the Olympics that her bronze medal had lost its luster.
bronze medal. Nyjah Huston/Instagram
“I got a little scratched.” she told the BBC.“I think water or something got under the medal and that’s why it’s a little discoloured, but I’m not sure.”
The International Olympic Committee told AFP it was working closely with the Paris Mint, which produced the medals, to replace the ones of inferior quality.
“A medal is the most coveted thing at the Olympics and the most precious thing to an athlete.” The IOC.
“Any damaged medals will be systematically replaced by the Paris Mint and will be identically stamped.”
