Why do Olympians bite their medals?

[Hatch]

It's doing my head in.

[Nexstar]

"Why is it standard that gold medallists will bite their medals while posing for the cameras?

 

The gesture apes the age-old test for checking whether a coin is gold. If it's really gold, the teeth should leave a small indentation. Some say the test was primarily for a lead-based fake, which would be even softer than gold.

 

Now it's become the equivalent at the Olympics of a victorious FA Cup player using the trophy lid as a hat.

 

So why do they do it? Largely, they are responding to requests from photographers to "kiss it" or "bite it". Many now anticipate it.

 

American Marti Malloy, who has earned a bronze medal for judo at the current Games, offered to strike the traditional pose.

 

"I've been working on my bite," she said at the time. "I'm not sure if it should be mean or happy."

 

The gesture goes back a long way. John Regis remembers doing it at the 1991 world championships.

 

"When I was a kid, my mother used to buy us those chocolate coins wrapped in gold foil. I was just making sure it wasn't chocolate," jokes Regis.

 

But there are dangers. In February 2010, during the winter Games a German luger broke a corner off his front tooth after biting down on his medal.

 

And while the 2012 medal might be one of the biggest ever, the "gold" one only contains 1.34% gold."

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19047586

[Colinjb]

It a revival of the old custom of biting Gold to check if it's real. If it is your tooth would leave a little indentation.

 

Not that the medals actual contain much gold, but it's just a gesture.

[Lazlo78]

Thank you! It's been doing my head in - and I think it looks quite silly putting the medal in the mouth like that

[Saint in Paradise]

They heard the medals were made in Portsmouth ( and we all know what happens there don't we. )