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Chinese Olympic gymnast Zhu Xueying took to Chinese social media site Weibo on Aug. 23 to reveal that her gold medal from the Tokyo Olympics is "peeling off".
Directing the question to her fellow athletes, the trampoline gymnast wrote in her post, "Your medals... are they peeling off too?", along with photos of her medal.
Her post went viral on Weibo, with over 68,000 "likes", 17,000 comments, and 15,000 shares at the time of writing.
Chinese netizens weighed in on the matter, with some doubting the "quality" of the medals and the manufacturing standards, while others told her to "stop peeling".
A netizen also jokingly said that Zhu might find chocolate in her medal if she keeps peeling.
Noticed a speck of dirt
In a subsequent post on Aug. 24, Zhu said she was taken aback by the reactions to her post, and recorded her response to the incident in a video.
Recounting her "discovery", Zhu said she showed her gold medal to her coach after returning to Tianjin, and the latter realised there seemed to be a "speck of dirt" on the medal.
"We tried rubbing it away but to no avail," she said.
She then used her nail to scratch at the spot, and realised that there was a layer of coating peeling off.
"What peeled off wasn't really the gold coating, more like a protective layer", according to Zhu.
In the video, she also claimed that she had rubbed away the visible patch, and there were no signs of "peeling" when she showed her medal.
The Chinese Olympian further elaborated that her initial post on Weibo was to see if any other athletes had the same "issue" with their medals.
However, she said she does not intend to ask for a substitute as she sees it as a memento of her efforts.
Seemingly in response to netizens' comments, she jokingly replied that her medal is not made of chocolate, and acknowledged the organiser's environmentally conscious efforts in using recycled materials to make the medals.
Japanese medal makers respond
The organisers of the Tokyo Olympics told Chinese state-controlled media Global Times that the part of the medal that peeled off was not the gold plating, but a coating meant to protect against scratches and dirt.
"It does not affect the quality of the medal itself", the committee added.
Makers of the medal, the Japan Mint, also reportedly said that it has not noticed any similar issues of layers peeling off from gold medals, but mentioned that the organising committee might investigate the matter.
For the first time in Olympic history, the Tokyo Olympics medals are made from recycled metal from electronic devices, according to the Tokyo Olympics website.
Dubbed the Tokyo 2020 Medal Project, the initiative took place for two years, recycling the metal from some 6.21 million used mobile phones and other small electronic devices into about 5,000 medals.
Two more gold medallists reporting the same "issue"
In another report, Chinese swimmer Wang Shun also found that he could peel off a layer from his medal, The Paper reported.
"I tried to peel it a bit, and immediately stopped after that", he said.
Meanwhile, another gymnast Zou Jingyuan, reportedly said that he had the same "issue" with his gold medal, though his bronze medal appears to be fine.
He added that the "issue" with his gold medal wasn't obvious, and that it is only visible if one were to "scrutinise" it.
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Top image via @YXiusheng/Twitter & Weibo