US Skateboarder Nyjah Huston says Paris Olympics bronze medal ‘looking rough’; learn why this happens and what can you do to preserve them

United States’ skateboarder Nyjah Huston has been all over the Internet lately, and no, it’s not because of his athletic prowess! Huston won a bronze at the Paris 2024 Olympics, and the athlete took to social media to share the condition of his prized possession.

In the video, he was seen lifting his medal and saying, “These Olympic medals look great when they are 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 are apparently not as high quality as you would think.”

 

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Flipping the medal on its back, he showed what was supposed to be in pristine condition to be chipped and jaded a bit.

“It’s looking rough. Even the front is starting to chip off a little,” he said. “Olympic medals, you gotta maybe step up the quality a little bit,” Huston said in the video.

With comments under the video ranging from “Wait till bro finds out what bronze does when it touches water” to “Olympian discovers oxidation”, we find out whether Huston’s claims genuinely hold any merit.

Indianexpress.com reached out to a metal expert to understand what could be the reason behind this and how you can preserve your bronze medal.

“When we say bronze has gone bad, the patina has likely gotten distorted,” said Neeraj Gupta, sculptor at Incredible Sculptures.

Patina is the outer surface texture of the metal that is found in nature, he shared. According to him, this is what gives the metal its shine and look.

There can be two primary reasons for this to happen.

“A bronze is essentially a copper-based alloy, and several metals such as lead, tin, zinc, etc. are added to the mix. The quality and purity of bronze largely depend on its composition and metallurgy. Essentially, the percentage of other metals added to the alloy and the particular time at which these metals are being added become important factors determining the longevity of the alloy, and its ancillary products,” explained Gupta.

In order to save cost, Gupta said that often cheap and affordable metals like lead are added in place of expensive ones like tin, which results in a faster decomposition of the alloy.

“As any regular alloy, exposure to moisture will lead to decay- but having an alloy with cheap metals will catalyse the process. The only way to preserve a bronze medal is by paying attention to the quality and purity of the alloy,” he added.

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