U.S. Olympian Nyjah Huston poses for a photo on July 30, 2024 in Paris, France. Credit – Joe Scarnici—Getty Images
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.
TIME has reached out to the Organising Committee of the Olympic Games in Paris 2024 for further comment.
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