Faster, higher, rustier: Medals from Rio Olympics damaged

Oly cyclists banned

RIO DE JANEIRO, May 24, (AP): Kyle Snyder made history at the Rio Olympics by becoming the youngest American wrestler to win a gold medal.

The medal will soon be history as well, to be replaced by the IOC and Rio organizers because of damage.

More than 80 American athletes have sent medals they won at Rio to US Olympic Committee headquarters to be shipped to games organizers, who will replace them due to flaking, black spots and other damage, the USOC said Tuesday.

The Americans, including goldmedal wrestlers Snyder and Helen Maroulis, are among at least 100 Olympians from across the globe with defective medals.

Beach volleyball star Kerri Walsh Jennings is also in the group; she says her bronze medal is flaking and rusting, and USA Swimming spokesman Scott Leightman said some swimmers have damaged medals as well.

The USOC learned about the problems in December and reached out to all the American sports federations in January to begin the process.

Rio Games spokesman Mario Andrada said officials have noted problems with the covering on 6 to 7 percent of 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.

A pair of Olympic cyclists from Russia and Azerbaijan have been banned for doping by the International Cycling Union.

The UCI says Tatyana Antoshina of Russia was given a four-year ban after testing positive for GHRP-2, which increases growth hormone levels in the body. Antoshina has won various road races around the world and finished 12th in the time trial and 25th in the road race at the 2012 London Olympics.

Maksym Averin of Azerbaijan was given a 15-month ban after testing positive in December for the banned substance meldonium. Averin is a sprinter who competed in the road race at last year’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, where he failed to finish.

Rio Olympics 100-meter freestyle gold medalist Kyle Chalmers has withdrawn from July’s world swimming championships to undergo surgery for a worsening heart condition.

Chalmers has supraventricular tachycardia, or recurrent rapid heartbeat, that is normally not life-threatening but can impact on his quality of life.