Why is medal-biting a thing?

[GrayTbred]

What’s the deal with Olympians always photographed biting on their medals? What, is there chocolate in the middle?

I haven’t seen any equestrian medal-chompers, but I wouldn’t put it past their horses to take an inquisitive nibble.

[caffeinated]

There’s an old “thing” about biting gold to determine whether or not it’s real, since pure gold is so soft.

http://www.bustle.com/articles/177578-why-do-olympians-bite-their-medals-the-answer-is-much-less-bizarre-than-youd-think

[findeight]

[QUOTE=caffeinated;8794332]
There’s an old “thing” about biting gold to determine whether or not it’s real, since pure gold is so soft.

http://www.bustle.com/articles/177578-why-do-olympians-bite-their-medals-the-answer-is-much-less-bizarre-than-youd-think[/QUOTE]

Yup. Predates any chemical analysis by 30 centuries or so. It’s an ancient gesture that’s hung around.

[Rackonteur]

Interesting article on it here (gives 2 reasons – the old one, to test a gold coin to see if it was real gold or counterfeit, as caffeinated said; the current one, because the photographers want you to)

http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/09/living/olympians-bite-medals/

I love this one from goodhousekeeping.com:

it’s especially popular among swimmers.

Now we just feel sorry for Michael Phelps’ teeth.

:lol:

I guess it’s the Olympic photographers’ version of “Say cheese!”