I don't want those who can't read the articles in French and rely on Google translate to be misled.
I had thought you saying that "Chocolate medals" was a neutral term to describe an actual pewter medal. I did not even consider the French term "médailles de chocolat/en chocolat". I am sorry I misunderstood.
1. The term "médailles de chocolat" is not merely a neutral descriptor of a pewter medal. In the articles linked for example, the tone of the article is, oh, poor Belgium, pays du chocolat, always getting fourth place, not getting "real" medals but chocolate medals. France only got a chocolate medal, because they were in fourth place. That is the use of the term in French for sports that do not have pewter medals.
2. The French use "Medaille étain" for the pewter medal in those sports that award one (makes sense the French word for pewter is étain). As in the caption for this photo:
Télécharger cette image : Vincent Zhou remporte la médaille étain au championnat de patinage artistique Toyota US 2020 à Greensboro, en Caroline du Nord, le 26 janvier 2020. (Photo de Jeff Wong/Sipa USA) - 2EJDW9T depuis la bibliothèque d’Alamy parmi des millions de photos, illustrations et...
www.alamyimages.fr
(Vincent Zhou remporte la médaille étain au championnat de patinage artistique/ Vincent Zhou wins the silver medal at the figure skating championships)
3. So I am back to where I was originally. A pewter medal as awarded by USFS is a real medal, awarded for a 4th place finish. Not a "chocolate medal" as that term is used in French, to describe an athlete who came in fourth but got no medal at all.
Although all medals should be made of chocolate.

