Why do athletes at the Winter Olympics bite their medals?

Why do athletes bite their medals? Winter Olympic athletes in Beijing will continue the tradition of past Olympic athletes of biting their medals on the podium – but why would they do it?

Four long years have passed since your last chance to win Olympic glory.

In the end, you’ve won your event and can declare yourself the Winter Olympics champion.

First, you’ll be presented with your medals and memorabilia, before your national anthem is played in front of a worldwide audience.

The joys that have been exchanged with dignitaries, the hugs with those sitting on your podium is complete.

You then proceed to bite your medal.

Yes, in what has become an Olympic tradition, athletes bite down on their medals after receiving it.

Why is this the case? Why do athletes bite their medals in the Summer and Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games?

• DISCLOSURE: How many athletes participated in the Beijing Winter Olympics?

Athletes and their medal biting

During the gold rush in 19th-century America, one way hunters could find out if they had hit gold was by biting on their finds.

Gold is a soft metal that can show teeth when bitten.

If it was an old rock – on the hunter’s way to find gold – with a toothache perhaps thrown in.

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If athletes at the Winter Olympics had to bite their medals in Beijing – they would be very disappointed.

A trip to the dentist would be orderly because today’s gold medals are not pure gold.

Why do they do it?

But athletes still bite into their medals during Olympic medal ceremonies.

The real reason behind the strange practice is quite simple.

It makes beautiful photos and photographers love it.

Iconic athletes’ hits with a piece of metal in between their teeth are a hit.

Even athletes like Olympic kings in Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps – 36 Olympic medals between them – 29 of which are Gold – have engaged in biting their medals.

• EXPLAIN: Why are Winter Olympic athletes not paid any money to compete in the Olympics

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