![Nyjah Huston]()
Nyjah Huston did America proud with a bronze medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in the men's street skateboarding final, but the hardware he took home for his spot on the podium isn't holding up so well.
In a story on his Instagram account, Huston shared how withered his relatively fresh bronze medal looked, and posited that the Olympics should consider enhancing the quality of their medals.
https://twitter.com/CrimedotOrg/status/1821901961836282217
https://twitter.com/revistaveridica/status/1821691211297554633
https://twitter.com/OliLondonTV/status/1821838350761783758
Huston noted how the front of the medal had begun to chip off, and that despite the bronze's relatively light wear and tear, it already showed signs of discoloration.
As he said in the aftermath of taking home the bronze in Paris, the medal was unlike anything he'd seen as a highly decorated skateboarder with many accolades to his name, including 12 gold medals at the Summer X Games.
https://twitter.com/ColeyHarvey/status/1817995235399483482
Too bad the luster didn't last — at least in Huston's view. I don't pretend to know about the process of oxidation or how it plays out on specific surfaces, but that seems to be the culprit here according to several Twitter folk.
https://twitter.com/spacelysrocket/status/1821915327120175428
https://twitter.com/sharp_59/status/1821911097500426471
https://twitter.com/rmeczew/status/1821911207273758999
https://twitter.com/deepblue727/status/1821910823666692233
https://twitter.com/jason_gundersen/status/1821906516536127775
So it sounds like Huston can just polish and seal that thing up to keep it looking shiny and new. However, the fact that, according to Huston, some of the bronze is already breaking off is a bigger red flag that I don't know how to account for.
We'll have to see if any other Olympic athletes speak out on the condition of their medals. Perhaps Noah Lyles will eventually weigh in on
his 200m bronze once he recovers from COVID. Regardless, if I won a medal at the Summer Games, I'd just do my best with it and let the chips fall where they may, fragments of the medal breaking off pun intended. The bottom line is Huston got an Olympic bronze, and as long as the medal doesn't disintegrate entirely, that should be enough to keep him happy. But I'm sure he can find an expert to help him preserve the medal if he really wanted to.
You can check out Huston's final run in the skateboarding street final below. The 29-year-old wily vet has still got it in spades for somebody who's had to take his fair share of physical punishment since turning pro at 10.
https://twitter.com/NBCOlympics/status/1817946375516037155
