May Ratchanok revealed that she carefully preserves her medal and has not taken it out to any events, despite her 2025 SEA Games gold medal beginning to peel just a few weeks after the competition ended.
On 5 Jan 2026 GMT+7, following the 33rd SEA Games hosted by Thailand from 9-20 Dec, there had been numerous controversies surrounding event management before and during the competition, as well as the closing ceremony.
However, one thing that sports fans have been particularly interested in is the gold medals of Ratchanok Intanon, the Thai national women's badminton player, who won two golds in women's singles and the women's team event before announcing her retirement from SEA Games to make way for younger players in the future.
May Ratchanok previously posted about her gold medal starting to peel, comparing it to the chocolate she used to eat as a child.
"Oh nooooo!! Don't tell me the inside is chocolate, just like when I was a kid."
The post received nearly 1,000 comments, including a notable one saying, "You must have used it at events too often, hahaha," which implied a question about how well she was taking care of the medal.
Recently, May Ratchanok responded, "I haven't taken it out to any events at all, but I'm puzzled why it's slowly peeling. Maybe the medal chooses its owner."
