After the gold medal can cut off a layer of "skin", the silver medal of the Tokyo Olympics has "faded" again?
On July 16, Zheng Pengfei, the runner-up in the men's 1000-meter double canoe canoe at the Tokyo Olympics, complained that the silver medal he won at the Tokyo Olympics two years ago became "scrap iron", "Time has proved that this is made of scrap, and the quality of any competition medal in China is better than this."
The pictures posted by Zheng Pengfei show that the front and back sides of the silver medal have obvious oxidation. According to the official website of the Tokyo Olympics, the silver medal is composed of sterling silver, which is refined from recycled metal. This matter quickly appeared on the hot search, causing heated discussions among netizens.
Zheng Pengfei said that the medal was stored at home for nearly 2 years, and when I took it out on the same day, it was like this, or it may be that he stored it improperly, but this is one of the few cases where medals oxidize in his family."
On August 3, 2021, in the men's 1000m double canoe final of the Tokyo Olympics, the ace of the Chinese men's team Liu Hao / Zheng Pengfei won the silver medal, and the gold medal was won by the Cuban team. A month later, the "Haofei Combination" won two consecutive gold medals at the National Games.
Liu Hao and Zheng Pengfei in the game
Before the Tokyo Olympics, the two also won two consecutive World Cup races in 2019, including the world's best time in the men's double canoe 1000m event at Duisburg.
Liu Hao (front) and Zheng Pengfei
In 2014, Zheng Pengfei and Wang Riwei won the silver medal in the men's double rowing 1000m at the Incheon Asian Games. In addition, Zheng Pengfei has also won gold medals in many domestic competitions.
These brilliant achievements show that Zheng Pengfei's international and domestic medals stored at home are not few.
Now after two years, he took out the silver medal of the Tokyo Olympics and found that "scrap iron", Zheng Pengfei's experience has been on the hot search.
Pictures posted by Zheng Pengfei
Someone comforted that "medals fade, but honors do not". Regarding whether this phenomenon is the normal oxidation of silver products, netizens have different opinions.
Under the theme of "Working Together for the Planet and People", the Tokyo Organising Committee decided to make about 5,000 medals from recycled metal under the theme of "Working Together for the Planet and People", which was intended to make the Tokyo Olympics the greenest and most sustainable in history.
The Organising Committee set up recycling bins at post offices, government buildings and other locations across Japan, and collected a total of 78,985 tons of waste equipment, including about 6.21 million old mobile phones, as well as digital cameras, handhelds and laptops. The devices were sorted, dismantled and melted to eventually collect 30.3 kilograms of gold, 4,100 kilograms of silver and 2,700 kilograms of copper. Since gold medals are plated on the surface of silver, silver is in greater demand.
Tokyo 2020 Olympic medals
The composition of the Tokyo Olympic medals is: gold medal, sterling silver gold plating (gold content is not less than 6 grams); Silver, sterling silver; Bronze, red brass (95% copper and 5% zinc).
Source: Tokyo Olympics official website
In July 2021, the official Twitter account of the Tokyo Olympic Committee said: "Our medals are made from materials from electronic devices donated by the Japanese public. So, you don't have to bite them... But we know you will. ”
It is worth mentioning that the quality of the medals at the Tokyo Olympics has always been controversial. In August 2021, in the closing month of the Tokyo Olympics, Zhu Xueying, a women's trampoline champion at the Tokyo Olympics and a Chinese athlete, found that a small piece of the gold medal was missing during her quarantine, thought that the medal was dirty, so she rubbed her hand, found that the gap had not changed, and picked it, and the result ...
Zhu Xueying said that the part cut off is not like gold dust, but more like a protective film.
However, it was not only Zhu Xueying who "peeled" the gold medal, but also Wang Shun, the men's 200m medley champion at the Tokyo Olympics. When asked about the quality of his gold medal after returning home from his Olympic trip, he said that his gold medal also fell off, "I picked it that day, and then I picked it immediately ... Can't pick it! ”
In August 2021, in response to the "gold medal peeling" incident, the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee replied that the peeling part was not gold plating, but a coating film applied to the surface of the medal, in order to prevent fine scratches, dents and stains on the medal, and play a protective role, and the material of the coating itself determined that it would not permanently adhere to the surface of the medal. As for whether the athletes can be replaced with medals, the Tokyo Organising Committee did not give a direct answer, but said that "even if the coating film on the surface is peeled off, it will not affect the quality of the medals themselves."
All kinds of confusing feedback on the quality of medals made some netizens nostalgic for the "gold inlaid jade" of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
In January 2021, Russian rhythmic gymnast Daria Valeryevna Shkurikhina caught fire in her home, burning her apartment beyond recognition, but she was lucky to escape, according to the New York Post. She later returned home and found the 2008 Beijing gold medal intact in the rubble, not even the medal ribbon burned.
According to public information, the medal ribbon of the Beijing Olympic Games is made of 38% mulberry silk and 62% polyester chemical fiber double-sided fine woven jacquard, which has undergone high-tech nano treatment, waterproof, mothproof, anti-dirt, fireproof, and will never fade.
Not only that, the Beijing Olympic medals are also anti-falling, Zhang Tiecheng, one of the designers and makers of the "gold inlaid jade" medal, recalled that they used the principle of "pressure cooker ring" to groove the side of the medal, set an O-ring with a diameter of one millimeter inside, and added a two-millimeter silicone pad at the bottom to prevent falling from various angles.
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