I n the early years of modern Olympic history, gold medals still meant something. They were made of pure gold, albeit smaller than today’s plaques. Since 1904 they have been minted. And as with currencies, notably the dollar, which in the 1970s lost its gold backing, the Olympic medal is no longer what it once was.
The gold content now stands at only about one percent; the missing remainder is generously filled with silver and bronze. For the Paris Summer Games, even scrap metal from the Eiffel Tower was recycled and marketed as the ultimate design by Chaumet, a medal-maker and a subsidiary of the LVMH group, specializing in luxury knick-knacks and must-have junk [great designation, I shall remember that! d. säzzer].
If one reads again today with what absurd verbiage the Chaumet designers advertised their product – that it would change the wearer’s life and so forth – then the report of the rusting medals really comes into its own. Only a few weeks after the much-praised Games did the first stains appear on the gold medals. They grew larger and uglier.
Oxidation processes occurred on the surface and transformed the prestige object, the pride of every Olympian, into shabby scrap metal. Antoine Arnault, the “Head of Image & Environment” at Chaumet, once boldly claimed that his shop made the athletes dream. Well, they quickly dreamed of having the piece replaced. Unattractive pictures flooded social media, and a spectacle repeated itself that had already been seen at the 2016 Rio Games.
Gilded Showpiece Exemplars
Dozens of medals had to be reminted and shipped, because they, well, showed patina. Or in other words: They were no longer presentable, the finish had peeled off. In Rio this affected at least 130 gold medals, in Paris the numbers were probably similar.
The material value of the “golden” plaque is no more than €1,500, but its ideal value is, of course, much higher, and on eBay such a piece can go for five-figure sums — which in the 1990s, by the way, prompted many Olympians from the Eastern Bloc to quickly silver their gold medals to be financially more mobile. But now to the central question: Why are the medals so susceptible? In Rio, officials blamed the special climatic conditions, Paris blamed the EU and its regulatory zeal.
In the EU there is now also an organization for monitoring chemical substances, called REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals). It has had a substance named chromium trioxide on its radar since at least 2013. It is classified as carcinogenic and mutagenic, so it can cause cancer and lead to genetic changes.
The EU has banned several chromium compounds, just as it has tried to reduce lead content in hunting or sport ammunition. Wikipedia notes: “Chromium trioxide is very toxic; as little as 0.6 grams, if ingested orally, can be fatal. In swallowing, digestive disturbances, kidney damage, cramps and paralysis can follow.” The reddish-brown substance is, in the so-called galvanic process, often used to prevent these ugly rust spots on medals. Chaumet did not want to be blamed. The Paris Mint was said to be the culprit, the designers claimed.
A simple solution would be quite straightforward. The International Olympic Committee should ensure that the hosts of Olympic Games no longer hang cheap surrogates around the athletes’ necks, but gleaming, solid gold exemplars. Otherwise, there is money for just about anything, with all due respect.
