Why athletes bite their medals: A look into Olympic tradition

Photos of athletes celebrating their victory and biting into the hard-won gold medal are a common sight at major sports events. On the occasion of the ongoing Olympic Games in France, a popular daily explains the phenomenon behind this mysterious custom.

The symbolic biting of the medal after a sports victory has become a recognizable gesture in the sports world. The Olympic discipline or type of sport practiced does not matter here.

Soccer players, rugby players, cricketers, or Olympians all succumb to the magic of the ritual, but few fans know what this gesture means.

Many iconic sports photos over the years have depicted athletes biting their medals after achieving glory in their discipline.

According to the Daily Mail, several Olympians, including Tom Daley from the British team and Antoine Dupont, have bitten their medals at the Olympic Games in Paris.

And though it is not entirely clear where this trend originated, many believe it began in the 4 x 400-metre relay race in 1991. This team included Derek Redmond, John Regis, Kriss Akabusi, and Roger Black, who were supposedly the first to start the trend that is still popular today.

There is also an anecdote from 2010 when a German luger at the Vancouver Olympics chipped his tooth after biting his silver medal.

The custom allegedly refers to gold prospectors, who, wanting to verify the authenticity of the extracted precious metal, would bite it.

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 - writes the Daily Mail.