Ireland star Annalise Murphy returns silver medal as athletes complain of rusting
Eyebrows were raised at the Rio Olympics last summer when the swimming pools turned green and now it looks like we can add rusting medals to the list of unusual features of the 2016 Games.
At least 100 Olympic athletes say that their medals from the Games are defective and are sending them back to be replaced.
Complaints include rusting, flaking and black spots, particularly with the bronze medals. American beach volleyball player Kerri Walsh Jennings said that her bronze medal was flaking and rusting.
Annalise Murphy’s manager, Finn Murphy, released a statement to the Ray D’Arcy Show confirming hers is among those being returned for treatment.
"Annalise received an email from the OCI giving her the option to send her silver medal back for re-finishing or to hold on to it. She decided to send it back and dropped it into the OCI a couple of weeks ago.
“The medal was looking a bit grubby but we figured that could be down to people passing it around and even biting it! I think the problem was that some of the medals hadn’t been finished properly at the beginning.”
A Rio Games spokesperson ,Mario Andrada, said that approximately 6-7% were affected: “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.
“All 2488 games were produced by the Brazilian mint, which has agreed to replace any that are returned.”
Murphy won’t be losing any sleep over her medal; she is fully focused on preparations for the World Championships in the autumn.
“Annalise is back on the water,” Finn Murphy said. “She’s training in Dun Laoghaire for the summer and will be going to the World Championships in the Netherlands in October.”
