Team USA skateboarder and Olympics winner Nyjah Huston said on his Instagram account on August 8 that the quality of the bronze medal he won was so poor that it eroded after receiving some sweat. In a video posted to Instagram stories, Huston explained that he felt honored to win an Olympic medal and explained that these “look great” only when they’re “brand new.” However, he said he felt surprised after realizing that these weren’t “high quality.”
The American Olympics winner detailed that the medal changed its appearance after he let it sit on his skin while being sweat for a couple of minutes and letting some friends and family wear it for two days. At one moment, the skateboarder put the bronze medal in front of the camera and showed its imperfections.
Huston explained he could not believe how “rough” the medal looked even in its front, and said that the medal was beginning to “chip off.” At the end of his video, the skateboarder criticized the Olympic committee and organizers and claimed that they should “step up the quality” of the medals, as he said it wasn’t fair for the athletes who won it.
The video was available on his Instagram for 24 hours and received thousands of comments. Most of these expressed outrage and indignation not only over the state of the medal itself but also about the quality of the Olympic Games in Paris. One of the users who commented said that it was “sad” to see how his medal looked like he won it in “1982.”
Following the video and the way it became viral, a representative of the Olympic organizing team published a statement where he said that they were aware of Huston’s video. The representative added that those who organized the sporting event were currently working with the institution that produces and determines quality control of the medals to know why Huston’s medal looked so damaged. He also explained that they will prevent a similar situation from taking place in the future as he described the three medals that athletes can win during the Olympics as the most important symbols and objects of the event.
The 2024 Olympic Games in Paris became one of the most controversial of all times not only because of some of the left-wing political messages shown during the opening ceremony but also because of some sporting moments.
At the inauguration event, there were many moments that many considered offensive, such as the anti-monarchy show where some monarchs could be seen decapitated, or the drag queen show where trans actors mocked The Last Supper. Also, some sporting moments gained attention because of their poor quality, as in the case of Australian left-wing academic Rachel Gunn, who competed in the Breakdance discipline and gained zero points because of her disastrous performance.
