Though last summer’s Rio Olympics were not quite the disaster some predicted they would be, but there were plenty of problems, from athlete housing that lacks proper plumbing to a collapsing bike path to sickly green pools.
And now, nearly a year after the Games ended, the very medals that they handed out are falling apart.
According to the AFP news wire, “scores” of medals are “falling to pieces.”
“We’re seeing problems with the covering on between six or seven percent of the medals and it seems to be to do with the difference in temperatures,” Rio Games communications officer Mario Andrada said.
“Together with the IOC we’re setting up a system for replacing the defective medals,” he said, adding that the problem was prevalent mainly with silver medals and that the makers, the Brazilian mint, were undertaking the task.
AFP reports that the medals have either suffered staining or had the cover fall off. It’s particularly harsh that this is happening mostly to silver medals, since the owners of those are already kind of resentful they don’t have gold.
But anyway, good on the IOC and the Rio Games for replacing the damaged medals. Those athletes overcame sinks that didn’t work, fear of crumbling infrastructure and discolored water—the least they deserve is a functioning medal.
[AFP]
