Rio medals have been reportedly falling apart, rusting and chipping just nine months after athletes were awarded these medals at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
More than 130 winners at last summer's Olympics have complained about the defective and deteriorating medals, according to USA Today.
"We’re seeing problems with the covering on between six or seven percent of the medals, and it seems to do with the difference in temperatures," Rio Games communications officer Mario Andrada said, according to The Washington Post.
However, Andrada said this is "completely normal," considering that these medals are only made of about 1.34 percent gold.
The medals were made of mostly sterling silver, and about 30 percent of the silver used to make the Rio medals came from recycled silver, the Post said.
Andrada also put some of the blame on the athletes who were awarded the medals.
"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," Andrada said, according to the Post.
While Andrada could have a point, the International Olympic Committee and Rio organizers plan to replace the medals to accommodate the athletes who have complained, USA Today noted.
According to the Chicago Tribune, complaints first began surfacing in October -- just two months after athletes received the medals in Rio.
This comes after gold medalist Jessica Ennis, who competed in the 2012 Olympics in London, said she and others were told to take good care of their medals.
Ennis said her gold medal from the 2012 games came with instructions that urged athletes to "avoid any sort of impact or abrasion [on the medal]" and to "always try to carry it in its box," according to the Tribune.