The pose has led to many iconic moments over the years, but why do athletes do it?
SAN FRANCISCO — It's an image seen every time the Olympics roll around — athletes biting their newly earned medals. Do they want to literally taste victory?
From Simone Biles and Michael Phelps to Usain Bolt and many others, Olympic athletes have been photographed countless times biting into their Olympic medals.
Why do Olympic athletes bite their medals?
According to the Olympics website, photographers encourage Olympians to bite the medals since the photos often make the front page.
“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,” David Wallechinsky, president of the International Society of Olympic Historians told CNN in 2012.
It's not always the photographer's idea, though. The image is so iconic, athletes at other levels like Portuguese soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo, NBA star LeBron James and many others have been photographed or photograph themselves with their metal in between their teeth. Former tennis player Rafael Nadal also bit into his trophies after winning them, starting the tradition in 2005.
The pose has led to many iconic moments over the years. From German luger David Moeller chipping his tooth to Chinese gymnast Zhou Yaqin seeing her fellow Olympians making the gesture and following through with a confused expression.
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She later explained why she was so confused.
"Since we have to take pictures together, (I thought) it is probably best for our movements to be the same," she said in an interview. "I didn’t actually bite it. This medal is so hard, who on earth would actually bite it?"
There’s also a historical answer to the question. During the gold rush and throughout history, people would bite into gold pieces or coins to authenticate it. Because gold is such a soft metal, teeth can dent it with minimal pressure.
Lucky for the athletes, they won’t find bite marks in their medals. The International Olympic Committee stopped awarding pure gold medals in the early 1900s.
