Why Do Olympic Athletes Bite Their Medals?
By Jeff Moffitt
@moffittjc (128835)
Gainesville, Florida
August 9, 2016 7:45pm CST
Anyone who is a fan of, and watches the Olympics on a routine basis may have noticed something interesting (or awkward) with athletes who win medals. In almost every instance, athletes will either bite their medals up on the podium, or afterward when they are facing the press.
Anyone know why (or can speculate why) the athletes do this?
9 people like this
8 responses
@Mike197602 (15504)
• United Kingdom
10 Aug 16
same reason people used to bite gold and silver coins, to check if they're real.
They're making a sort of joke.
3 people like this
@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
10 Aug 16
I'm sure some athletes still do it for this reason, but the real reason is because the media demands that they bite their medals. It makes for a great photo opportunity. Did you know that Olympic gold medals are 99% silver?
1 person likes this
@Mike197602 (15504)
• United Kingdom
10 Aug 16
@moffittjc yes, just gold layer then silver underneath.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
11 Aug 16
@Mike197602 It would be funny (well, not to the athletes) if it turned out that the gold on the medals was not even real gold, but gold-colored spray paint! lol
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
10 Aug 16
It does look like that a little bit, but in truth they are biting them! It's a tradition that goes back decades! But why do they do it?
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29410)
• Eugene, Oregon
10 Aug 16
I never noticed that until the photos of our gymnasts were shown today.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
10 Aug 16
Did they bite their medals? I was watching all the swimming events last night, and of course right after I published my post on biting the medals, every single one of the swimmers started kissing their medals instead of biting them! Go figure! lol
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29410)
• Eugene, Oregon
10 Aug 16
@moffittjc I am not sure what they were doing with them.
1 person likes this
@Poppylicious (11134)
• United Kingdom
10 Aug 16
I assume it stems from the tradition of biting to see if it was real. Now the media just like the photo opportunities. If I was an Olympic medallist I'd think of something better to do, just to annoy and rile the media. :)
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
10 Aug 16
Well, if you remember American swimmer Ryan Lochte from the 2012 Games in London, he basically was mocking the media every time he took the podium. One time he put on gold grills in his teeth, which I thought was the stupidest thing ever, yet at the same time thought it was the most brilliant thing ever. At first I thought he was just trying to show off, but it turned out he was doing it on purpose to annoy the media.
@Daljinder (23193)
• Bangalore, India
10 Aug 16
They are checking if their teeth are still strong or are about to fall off! 
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
10 Aug 16
Haha, that's a good one! They want to make sure their teeth are all still there before they smile for the cameras!
1 person likes this
@DesirousDreamer (34776)
• Peoria, Arizona
10 Aug 16
I always thought it was to prove to be real gold and such. And perhaps later on it just became a thing to do, kind of like a tradition.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
10 Aug 16
They stopped making gold medals out of gold in 1912 (they are 99% silver now), but it wasn't until much later that the athletes started biting them! It turns out that they do it because the media demands that they do, because it makes for a good photo opportunity! And of course, as soon as I wrote this post, every athlete tonight has been kissing their medals instead of biting them! lol
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29410)
• Eugene, Oregon
10 Aug 16
@moffittjc You just can't win,
1 person likes this
@DesirousDreamer (34776)
• Peoria, Arizona
10 Aug 16
@moffittjc Well I would assume so with the medals not being full gold. I just always thought it was a little tradition after a while.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
10 Aug 16
Two very respected former Olympic athletes (and medal winners) have come forward and said that they only reason they bite them is because the media pushes them to do it. If they don't comply, the media will taunt them, harass them, and goad them until such time as they bite the medals. Apparently, biting the medal makes for a good front page newspaper photo! Many other athletes have also confirmed that this is the reason they bite the medals.
@LadyDuck (502491)
• Italy
10 Aug 16
Elizabeth @Poppylicious is right, now it's just for fun, but this is an age-old practice of testing whether something was real gold. Gold is a very soft metal, and you should be able to leave some tooth marks in it by biting it. The silver and bronze makes no sense, but the photographs ask them all to bite the medals, as I said, for fun.
