Why Athletes Bite Medal: Paris Olympics 2024 will start this week on 26th July. These games will run till 11th August. This time 117 players from India will participate in the Olympics. They are expected to win record medal. But here we are going to talk about something a little different. This is about biting an athlete after winning a medal.
Be it Olympics, Commonwealth or Asian Games… fans have often seen pictures of athletes cutting their medals while standing on the podium. Now the question is that when an athlete wins a medal in any big tournament, why does he stand on the podium and bite it?
When gold coins were used as currency
Is this a rule or a tradition? Fans are always confused about this question and curious to know the answer. But when we keep this question in mind and focus on the words of historians, then the matter looks different.
According to history, in ancient times precious metal was used as currency. At that time, traders used to cut gold coins to check their authenticity. Because gold is a soft metal and bursts with little pressure. If it is bitten, it leaves its mark.
Awarding of pure gold medals stopped after 1912
But biting the medal with your teeth does not mean testing its purity. It would not be right to say this about the players. Let us tell you that before 1912, medals of pure gold were given. But after this the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had stopped giving pure gold medals. But it is not that he has done this because of biting the medal with his teeth.
It is also said that even before 1912, athletes used to bite medals with their teeth. Then they used to do it for the purity of gold. But this tradition still continues after 1912. However, now the medal is considered to be a secondary concept behind the cutting of teeth. It is said that by doing this the athlete shows his hard work, competition and enthusiasm in his competition.
Apart from this, information has also been given on the Olympic website regarding why athletes bite their medals. According to the Olympics, athletes bite the medals with their teeth just to get photographed. When the athletes stand on the podium holding their medals, the photographers ask them to make a pose like biting the medal with their teeth.
Athletes pose like this for the photographer
Photographers have different beliefs regarding this. He always demands this pose from the athlete. This pose is a matter of pride for the photographer and he believes that this wonderful pose will be published on the front page of the newspaper the next day. This is the reason why photographers themselves appeal to athletes for this pose.
David Walechinsky, former president of the International Society of Olympic Historians (ISOH), told CNN, ‘This has become a must-have pose for photographers. I think they see it as a prestige shot that they can probably sell easily. I don’t think this is something that athletes should do on their own.
An athlete broke his tooth
The pose of biting the medal with one’s teeth has become a tradition not only for the athlete but for the photographer. While doing this pose, an athlete broke his tooth. This incident is from the 2010 Winter Olympics. When German luger David Möller won the silver medal.
Then a photographer asked Moller to pose as he bites the same medal with his teeth. During this time one of his teeth was broken. Möller himself told this to a German newspaper Bild. He had said, ‘The photographer wanted to take a picture of me holding the medal with my teeth. Later at dinner time I noticed that one of my teeth was missing.
In the future, it may also be seen that due to this pose, an athlete goes to the dentist with a tooth problem. That is, it is also clear that there is neither any rule nor tradition of cutting the medal with teeth. But now this pose is taking the form of a tradition.