Tipperary's Olympic hero Daire Lynch has had to return bronze medal over a 'chronic issue'

Tipperary and Clonmel Olympian Daire Lynch has had to return his bronze medal over a ‘chronic issue’ affecting many Olympians who came third.

Daire and Phillip Doyle took home bronze in the double sculls, becoming one of three bronze medalists at Ireland’s most successful Olympics ever — alongside Mona McSharry and Daniel Wiffen — but have seen the conditions of their medals deteriorate quickly.

Daire and Philip showed off Philip’s bronze medal on Ireland AM on Tuesday, but Daire revealed that the IOC took his off him to see what is wrong with the metal in the medals, while the top layer of Philip’s medal had deteriorated and "gone wrecked."

"Mine is gone wrecked. It’s nearly gone the next layer down,"Philip explained, with Daire adding, "I wanted to keep mine but they wanted to take it away for research. They want to see what is wrong with the medals."

"Some of the gold [deteriorates] but not too many, but the bronze seems to be a chronic issue," Philip added.