Hunter Woodhall and Tara Davis-Woodhall made a lot of waves during the Olympics. The couple won gold medals in their categories of 400-meter T62 and long jumping and shocked the world with their athletic ability. Of course, both of them rushing towards the stands to hug their significant other after winning their medals was the main thing that made them viral.

The viewers just couldn’t get enough of the people who were both incredible athletes while also being so accomplished in the sport. But, now months after the games ended, the couple seem to be in the news again for an unfortunate reason, which has been plaguing quite a lot of athletes who won medals at the Olympics and the Paralympics.

On November 23rd, Hunter Woodhall uploaded a reel about how he may have accidentally caused the tarnishing of his own gold medal by wrapping the ribbon around it, two months since he won it. He had possibly done this to stop the metal from degrading after a lot of cases of it, but the plan had completely backfired as the ribbon itself was damaged from the metal. Thus, he advised every athlete who may have an Olympic or Paralympic medal not to do so.

Hunter said, “You guys may have seen the bronze medal on social media that is tarnishing, but here’s the problem I have with the gold medal. I did this myself, so it’s totally my fault, but uh, I would wrap the ribbon around it right. I did that, and the edge right here caught on the ribbon. Look how sharp this is; it went all the way up here. Don’t wrap the ribbon around the medal.” The couple then also commented on their own reel, saying, “Rip to the ribbon.” But coming back to the video, after narrating this whole incident while showing the medal and where the damages in the ribbon occurred, Tara Davis-Woodhall also chimed in on the conversation.

Tara Davis-Woodhall also agreed that the medals shouldn’t be wrapped, as it really does damage the ribbon, slowly taking away the novelty of the medal. After that, she showed the viewers a glimpse of her own medal, which had also started to show a few cracks despite her taking great care of it. Thus, there were definitely severe problems with the material with which the medals were made. They are not at all the only people to face this problem, as there are many other Olympians who won medals in Paris and are going through the same thing.

Cases of other Olympic athletes facing the same problem

Numerous athletes have complained about the quality of the Olympic medals being below par since they ended up winning them. One of the first cases of this was reported by Nyjah Huston, who won the bronze medal in skateboarding on July 29th. But by August 8th, his medal was already damaged and had shown signs of wearing out.

“Alright, so these Olympic medals look great when they are brand new, but after letting them sit on my skin with some sweat for a little bit and then letting my friends wear it over the weekend, they are apparently not as high quality as you would think.” He wrote in an Instagram story. Another athlete who reported damages quite early was the UK’s Yasmin Harper, who won the bronze on women’s springboarding.

Within days of her victory, the metal had started already losing its color and shine. According to her, the medal becomes discolored even if a drop of water falls upon it. This caused a lot of heat upon the International Olympics Committee in the month of August, and they had to come out with a statement saying that they are “working closely with the Paris Mint and with the National Olympic Committee of the athlete concerned in order to examine the medal in question to understand the circumstances and the cause of the damage.”

They also promised to try and replace some of the damaged medals of the athletes. Till now, there is no proof to suggest that they kept this promise. But one should hope for a swift resolution on this matter, as a medal is a huge part of any athlete’s Olympic career and must be made in such a way that it lasts for years.