The real reason why Olympic athletes bite their medals after winning

Some of the most iconic sports photographs have included athletes biting their medals after clinching glory in their discipline.

From the likes of Usain Bolt to Antoine Dupont, Olympians, footballers, rugby players and athletes from around the world have all participated in the iconic practice.

While it’s unclear where the trend first originated from, many think Team GB’s 1991 gold medal winning 4x400m relay team, which included Derek Redmond, John Regis, Kriss Akabusi and Roger Black, were some of the first athletes to do the trend.

It isn’t, though, perhaps the safest thing to do, with David Moeller, a German Luger who was competing at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, claiming to have chipped his tooth, after biting down on his silver medal.

THEORIES

But why do athletes participate in the ritual? There are many theories, with some claiming that it comes from how people used to mine gold, while others believe it is a gimmick that athletes are asked to do.

Some claim that because gold is softer than silver or bronze, one way to figure out whether your medal is authentic or not is to bite into it. Should your teeth leave a mark or dent on the precious accolade, you’d know you have a gold medal. During the California gold rush in the 1800s, prospectors would test whether they had real gold by biting into it.

According to Oxford Economics, an Olympic gold medal will cost around £798 – and are not made completely of gold. They contain approximately six grams of gold, with the rest of the medal composed of silver and weigh around 1.17lbs.

Silver medals weigh slightly less at 1.17lbs, while bronze medals weigh 1lbs.

But others believe the phenomenon is driven by photographers, with David Wallechinsky, president of the International Society of Olympic Historians, telling CNN back in 2012 that athletes bite their medals because they are asked to by cameramen. ‘It’s become an obsession with the photographers,” Wallechinsky said.

‘I think they look at it as an iconic shot, as something that you can probably sell.

‘I don’t think it’s something the athletes would probably do on their own.’

Others, including Temple University, Philadelphia professor Frank Farley, believe that biting a medal is a social phenomenon that allows athletes to feel part of the ‘winning zeitgeist’.

‘Sports all have their eccentricities,’ he said, per Lad Bible. ‘If you want to be part of the winning zeitgeist, that winning culture, you participate in that winning practice.

‘It makes your medal yours. It’s an emotional connection with your accomplishment.’

Credit: dailymail.co.uk

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