A Japanese softball player will get a replacement for her Olympic gold medal after her city mayor sank his teeth into the first one

• An Olympic softball player is getting a new gold medal from the International Olympic Committee.
• The IOC plans to replace Miu Goto's medal after her city mayor chomped on it at an August 4 event.
• The mayor, Takashi Kawamura of Nagoya, Japan, has apologized for biting the athlete's prize.

A Japanese Olympic gold medalist will be getting a free replacement medal from the International Olympic Committee after her city mayor chomped down on her prize.

Miu Goto, a pitcher for Japan's softball team who hails from the central Japanese city of Nagoya, won her medal after a hard-fought match in which Japan beat the US, 2-0.

At an August 4 victory event, Mayor Takashi Kawamura of Nagoya removed his mask and bit down on Goto's medal, according to the Japanese news outlet Kyodo News.

-Reuters (@Reuters) August 13, 2021

Though biting medals is a bit of an Olympic tradition, Kawamura's stunt prompted a social-media backlash, with some writing that it was unhygienic, considering Japan's COVID-19 restrictions, and disrespectful of Goto's achievements, per the BBC.

The local news outlet Mainichi Shimbun reported that Kawamura apologized after the Nagoya government received more than 7,000 complaints, saying he was acting "on impulse" and made "the symbol of years and years of hard work dirty."

"With support from the International Olympic Committee and in line with her own intention, Ms. Goto's medal is now set to be exchanged for a new one," the organizers of the Tokyo Games told Reuters.

Goto did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.