It’s a natural inclination. You painstakingly train for four years, finally get the gold medal around your neck and when feel it, heavy and triumphant, you decide to pick it up… and put in your mouth…?
On second thought, perhaps not so natural. But it’s been repeated as the go-to pose for post-medal ceremony more and more frequently and Twitter isn’t keeping it’s sh*t together very well.
Has anyone taught the athletes the basic notions of hygiene? Is it not stupidly cold against their teeth? And, God forbid, what if their excitement means they bite too hard and their poor teeth will bear the consequences of an over-zealous medal chew?
Hygiene aside, why are athletes so partial about having a little chew on their medal after they win?
According to The Sun, to prove if your item is authentically gold, all you need to do is bite into it.
The metal should be soft and malleable. So if it’s real, your teeth should leave a little dent.
The Olympic athletes we admire. Post continues after video.
As logical as it sounds, it couldn’t make less sense when considering how Olympic gold medals are made in recent times.
The gold medals at this year’s Olympics are made from just over one per cent of gold, with the rest of the medal made up of silver and copper.
It’s no doubt an iconic pose, entrenched in Olympic culture. But who wants to break the news to the athletes?
Top Comments
I thought this was pretty common knowledge with gold, they obviously just do it for show now.
I thought it's because the metals help mask the performance enhancing drugs?