It’s true that it’s become something of an Olympic tradition that athletes bite off their medals after receiving them. Elite athletes nibbling on their medals on the podium is a familiar sight at the Olympics. While most of us understand the practice of receiving medals and posing on the podium, what might seem a bit odd is the common posture that athletes are in when biting their medals.
Athletes do not really bite their medals. In decades past, athletes would bite their medals in order to verify that it was made of the appropriate metal, because gold is soft and can be bent by a bite. However, the authenticity of medals is assumed today, and biting has largely been forgotten.
Anyone watching the Tokyo Olympics at home is accustomed to victorious athletes posing on the podium, but many wonder why some bite off medals while posing for pictures after they’ve been unveiled.
As soon as an Olympic winner steps onto the podium and receives a medal, they almost automatically begin to be bitten for a photo shoot. No one seems to know if this was the reason why the athletes good-naturedly nibbled on their gold medals, but photographers love it.
Partly by tradition, when athletes receive their gold medals, photographers ask them to take a bite and hold their pose, as this creates the iconic image we are used to. You’ve probably seen pictures of elite athletes like Thomas Pidcock, Usain Bolt and Simone Biles pretending to bite into elite athletes like Thomas Pidcock medals.
Olympians Don’t Really Bite Medals Anymore
It’s safe to say that Olympic athletes don’t actually verify the authenticity of their medals when they pose for photos after winning. If the athletes gnawed at their medals in these games, it was most likely because the athletes wanted to check whether they had gold medals or not.
If athletes at the Winter Olympics gnawed at their medals in Beijing, they would be disappointed. Athletes spend years preparing for the Olympics, so when they finally get that elusive gold medal, it’s hard to say exactly how they’ll react. Winning an Olympic medal is the ultimate goal for athletes participating in the games, and after that, the usual posture is that of winners biting their medals.
Winning athletes across the Olympic spectrum have gone to great lengths to find a place for their medals. While the tradition may have roots in 19th-century America looking for gold, Olympic winners bite on medals that are mostly silver. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) effectively stopped awarding solid gold medals in 1912.
Currently, Olympic first place medals are only 1.34% gold, which translates to a weight of about 6 grams. Athletes used to check their medals to make sure they were real by sinking their teeth into them. At first, the Olympic medals were made of solid gold, so the athlete allegedly bit off this piece of shiny metal somewhere along the way, giving birth to a bite. The start of Olympic medal biting is not known, although it is considered a long-standing Olympic tradition.
The Authenticity of Olympic Medals Is Assumed Nowadays
These days, the bite is useless on the Olympic stage because the top prizes athletes receive are only about 1.34 percent pure gold, according to NBC Chicago. However, the medals are made primarily from sterling silver and recycled, so most Olympians take part in the bite for symbolic reasons, along with the traditional smiling photographs, although many think this is encouraged by photographers.
We may not see athletes visiting the dentist again after chewing on their medals, but the tradition has become an integral part of the Olympics and will likely continue in the future.
Photos of medal bites have become so popular that the official Tokyo 2020 account has tweeted about the bites. The sting led bewildered onlookers to turn to social media, with the official Olympic committee even posting a tongue-in-cheek message to athletes reminding them not to. At first I thought that the bite was an accident, but after noticing one athlete after another put freshly awarded medals in his mouth, I suspected that there was a reason behind the bizarre habit of celebrating.
Biting Medals Is Popular but Not Recommended
They may be hungry for gold, but Olympic athletes should avoid chewing on their medals, which are made from recycled mobile phones and other electronic devices, Tokyo 2020 organizers recently joked in a tweet. Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade bite off their medals on the podium after the men’s basketball gold medal match in Beijing in 2008. US Hilary Knight and Megan Duggan bit off their gold medals during the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
Gold medal winner Vladislav Goncharov (Vladislav Goncharov) of Belarus bites his medal during the awards ceremony for the winners of the men’s trampoline finals at the 2016 Summer Olympics at the Olympic Arena in Rio. Gold medalist from Georgia Lasha Bekauri bit off her prize at the awards ceremony in the men’s judo competition in the weight category up to 90 kg.
Swiss cyclist Marlene Reusser poses for a photograph and bites her silver medal after the women’s individual time trial. At the 2010 Winter Olympics, silver medal winning German luger David Möller broke a German luger’s tooth while stealing for cameras and showing his bite. Despite the fact that his medal is not solid gold, Bijkerk suspects that Olympians can leave a mark on the medal, depending on how hard they bite.
Even athletes like Usain Bolt, Olympic Royals and Michael Phelps – two with 36 Olympic medals – 29 of them gold – Usain Bolt and Michael • Phelps — the pair won 36 Olympic medals — 29 of them gold — also took part in biting off their medals. The 2020 Tokyo Olympics are in full swing with more than 100 medals up for grabs, with Britain winning 16, including five golds.