Olympic officials issue response after US athlete reveals condition of medal days after winning it

Olympic officials have responded after a US athlete revealed the condition of his medal days after winning it.

Winning an Olympic medal is the pinnacle of an athlete's career, the result of years of hard work and sacrifice.

With gold medals worth hundreds of pounds, you might think that they are high quality.

Well, that doesn't appear to be the case with bronze medals.

American skateboarder Nyjah Hudson took bronze in the men's street final on July 29, finishing behind Japan's Yuto Horigome and fellow American Jagger Eaton.

The Team USA star was probably planning to treasure his medal for years to come, but just days after the event, he shared the state of his accolade.

Hudson took to Instagram to share how his medal had seeming deteriorated since he returned home to the United States.

Speaking in post on his Instagram Story, Huston said: “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 letting my friends wear it over the weekend, they’re apparently not as high quality as you’d think. It’s looking rough.”

The athlete called on the Olympics to 'step up the quality' of their medals, saying: “I don’t know, Olympic medals, we gotta step up the quality a little bit."

Nyjah Hudson wasn't happy with the condition of his medal. [Instagram: @nyjah]

Huston posted an image on social media of the medal saying it 'looked like it went to war and back'.

The Olympian also posted a screenshot of someone who had seen the photo of the medal, who told him: "Looks like ya won that thing in 1982 mate."

After the story blew up online, Olympic officials have issued a response.

A spokesperson told Mail Sport: "Paris 2024 is aware of a social media report from an athlete whose medal is showing damage a few days after it was awarded.

"Paris 2024 is working closely with the Monnaie de Paris, the institution tasked with the production and quality control of the medals, and together with the National Olympic Committee of the athlete concerned, in order to appraise the medal to understand the circumstances and cause of the damage."

The IOC also told LADbible Group: "The medals are the most coveted objects of the Games and the most precious for the athletes.

"Damaged medals will be systematically replaced by Monnaie de Paris and engraved in an identical way to the originals."