Why Do Athletes Bite Their Olympic Gold Medals?
Chances are you’ve seen that iconic shot of the victorious freshly minted Olympic athlete post podium, drunk with happiness, posing for photographers with their brand-new gold medal around their neck—and in their mouth.
This past weekend we witnessed silver medalist Lauren Scruggs with her fencing teammate Lee Kiefer, who won the gold medal, along with Eleanor Harvey from Canada, who is taking home the bronze, all chomping down on their medals.
Why do athletes bite their Olympic medals?
A bit of history. The Olympic games as we know them first debuted in 1896. However, at the first games, rather than gold, first place competitors won silver medals, second place won bronze. In the next Olympics in 1900, the winners mostly received trophies or cups. It wasn’t until the 1904 Olympics that medals made of solid gold were awarded to top athletes.
But those shiny solid gold medals didn't last long. The last solid gold medals were awarded at the 1912 Stockholm Summer Olympics. When World War I began and gold became more scarce, alloys were added to reduce the amount of gold. These days medals are required to contain just 6 grams of gold, which means they mostly consist of silver and a little copper.
We investigated a little deeper into why athletes still bite Olympic medals.
Related: See Team USA's Olympic Uniforms Through the Years (26 Photos!)
Biting metal is a tradition
Many years ago, biting metal—any metal, not just medals from the Olympics—was a way to test its authenticity. During the California gold rush in the late 1800s, people would bite into gold to test if it was real. The theory was that pure gold is a soft, malleable metal. If a bite left indentation marks on the metal, it was most likely real. If it wasn’t, you could break a tooth. But since today's medals aren’t solid gold, the bite test doesn’t help.
Athletes are following examples set by other medalists
It could also be because these champions have seen their sister and brother athletes doing the same. Michael Phelps chomped down on his medal. So did Simone Biles. So today's Olympic athletes are following the tradition.
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Photographers are telling athletes to bite their medals
It has also been said that the reason for medal biting is a simple one. In a 2012 story for NBCNews.com, David Wallechinsky, president of the International Society of Olympic Historians and author of The Complete Book of the Olympics shared that the practice comes from athletes listening to photographers who are keen for the killer shot seen all around the world.
In 2016, NBC Olympians Dawn Harper-Nelson and Natalie Coughlin both shared that the throng of photographers insisted that they each chomp onto their new medals after winning. Photographers see the iconic shot as the money shot that has the potential to be seen around the world. “They wear you down and they make you bite it,” explained Coughlin. “They're screaming, 'Look at me!' You just have everyone yelling demands of 'Smile!' and 'Bite your medal!',” said Harper-Nelson.
In fact, medal biting can be hazardous to your teeth! In 2010, David Moeller, a luger from German broke his tooth while chomping into his silver medal. “The photographers wanted a picture of me holding the medal just with my teeth,” Moeller declared to Bild, a German newspaper. “Later at dinner, I noticed a bit of one of my teeth was missing.”
Related: How Much Do Team USA Athletes Earn for Winning Medals?
Want to know more about medals? We’ve got the low down?
What do the medals for Paris 2024 look like?
Competitors at the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics are awarded gold, silver and bronze medals. The hosting city's organizing committee is responsible for the medal's design and changes with each games.
It seems very fitting that the Eiffel Tower plays a big role in the design for the Paris Olympics. Not only does the medal contain an image of the iconic tower, each one is embedded with an original piece of iron from the actual Eiffel Tower. According to reports, .04 pounds of iron is contained in each medal.
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Famed French jeweler, Chaumet, that is owned by LVMH (Louis Vuitton Mo?t Hennessey), designed the medals as pieces of jewels. Their three sources of inspiration are the hexagon, radiance and gem-setting.
The hexagon celebrates the geometrical six-sided shape of France. Radiance is represented in the lines that project outwards from the hexagon and make the medal sparkle. The idea is to evoke the radiance of France along with the shining performances of the athletes. And the setting of the gem refers to six metal appendages to fix the hexagon in place. The hobnail shape is meant to resemble the famous Eiffel Tower rivets.
The dramatic and artful medal has the image of the Olympic torch, five Olympic rings and is engraved with the phrase "Paris 2024" on one side. On the other side, Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, stands before Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, the Acropolis and the Eiffel Tower.
The idea is that the medal tells the story of the rebirth of the Games in Greece. A mainstay of the medals since 2004, the goddess of victory Athena Nike, is emerging from the Panathenaic Stadium. She represents the revival of the Olympic Games in 1896. The Acropolis of Athens, another compulsory feature of the Olympic medals, is joined by the Eiffel Tower for the first time in the Paris 2024 design. The medal is a marriage of the ancient Games in Greece and the 2024 French Olympic Games.
How much are medals from the Olympics worth?
The gold medal containing 6 grams of gold and mostly silver comes to around $950, while a silver medal comes in at around $480. A bronze medal is worth $13. But these amounts depend on the price of gold, silver and iron at the time. And of course, these medals are priceless to the athletes!
What are Olympics medals made of?
Gold medals are not made of all gold. Actually, they haven't been pure gold since the Olympics in 1912. Gold medals have around 6 grams of gold plating on 92.5 percent silver and also contains iron. Silver medals contain mostly silver and some iron. The bronze medal consists mostly of copper and contains some zinc and iron.
How much do Olympic medals weigh?
Medals from the Paris 2024 Summer Games range in weight from around 1 pound (bronze) to 1 pound, 2.72 ounces (gold). That gives you a real-world idea how much medals weigh.
—Gold medals from the Paris Summer Olympics weigh about 1.17 pounds.
—Silver medals from the Paris Sumer Olympics weigh about 1.16 pounds.
—Bronze medals from the Paris Sumer Olympics weigh about 1 pound.
