The reason why athletes bite their medals after winning at the Olympics has been revealed.
The 2024 Paris Olympics kicked off on Friday (July 26) with a - let's say - unique Opening Ceremony that took place on the River Seine.
Over 10,000 of the finest athletes in the world have gathered in the city to battle over 32 sports across 19 action-packed days.
While we are only four days into the international multi-sport event, the medal table shows that as of this writing, the People's Republic of China is leading with nine medals.
So far, the country has earned five gold medals in diving and shooting, two silver medals in archery and shooting, and two bronze medals in swimming.
Meanwhile, Japan and the Republic of Korea have seven medals, including four golds while Australia has six medals.
One of the strange sporting phenomena is the sight of an athlete standing on the podium whilst biting their medal.
According to the Bridge Chronicle, one of the first pictures of an athlete chomping down on their prize was in 1991 by the World Championship-winning Great Britain 4x100m team.
Fast forward two decades later, and sporting icons like Michael Phelps and Rafael Nadal have carried on the tradition. This has led to fans questioning: Why do athletes bite their medals?
Why do Olympians bite their medals?
Initially, the pose is said to stem from a historical tradition where people would apparently bite an object to determine if it was really made of gold.
Per the Metro, because gold is softer and more malleable than other metals, biting into say, a gold coin, would have left a visible indentation. However, this tradition has long been lost as coins - and medals - stopped being made of gold.
Instead, the reason for the pose is now down to something else entirely.
David Wallechinsky - the President of the International Society of Olympic Historians, - revealed that it has become a mandatory pose insisted on by sports photographers around the world.
"It’s become an obsession with the photographers," he told CNN in 2012. "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."
Additionally, one psychologist believes that medalists bite their medals because, at this point, it’s simply what winning Olympians do.
“Sports all have their eccentricities,” Farley, a professor from Temple University in Philadelphia and former president of the American Psychological Association, said, per Today. "If you want to be part of the winning zeitgeist, that winning culture, you participate in that winning practice."
The professor believes that there is a more meaningful reason behind the practice, explaining: “It makes your medals yours... It’s an emotional connection with your accomplishment."
It's not a safe practice though as German luger David Moeller, a silver medallist at 2010’s Vancouver Olympics, revealed that he chipped his front tooth while posing for photographers. Yikes.
However, the "medal bite" photo has become more popular over the years, and is clearly here to stay!
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