Olympic athletes returning eco-friendly Rio medals over quick rusting, black spots

Deteriorating eco-friendly medals from the 2016 Rio Games are forcing the world’s most elite athletes to request replacements.

Volleyball player Kerri Walsh Jennings (bronze), wrestlers Kyle Snyder (gold) and Helen Maroulis (gold), and dozens of other athletes have returned Rio’s “symbol of sustainability” medals since last summer. The Brazilian mint responsible for the fragile awards said it would replace them as needed.

“If I’m out showing my medal to kids, I try not to give them that one to touch in case it gets worse. I tend to let them hold my London one, as it is much better,” one British medal winner told The Times of London on Thursday on condition of anonymity.

Rio 2016 spokesman Mario Andrade told the newspaper that roughly 7 percent of medals had durability issues.

“The most common issue is that they were dropped or mishandled and the varnish has come off and they’ve rusted or gone black in the spot where they were damaged,” Mr. Andrade said.

The newspaper noted that bronze medals were minted using copper from “industrial waste,” while gold medals were “made of partially recycled silver” and plated with six grams of gold.

“It is not clear if this had an effect on their durability,” the newspaper reported.