Why Olympic Winners Pose With Medals Between Their Teeth

If you watch the Olympics every four years, there is a photograph of the winners you are bound to see. Winners are photographed on the podium with their medals between their teeth as if they are biting them. There is a good reason for that particular pose. If you have no idea why they are photographed that way, keep reading to discover the reason behind such a strange practice.

Reason For That Particular Photo

First of all, the winners don't actually bite the medals. They pretend to do so because the photographers tell them to do it. Winners are photographed that way because it is one of the most recognizable pictures from the Olympics. That particular photo is usually printed in the winners' hometown newspapers after they win the gold, silver, or bronze medals.

How the Practice Began

Olympians winning posing with their medals between their teeth is patterned after the practice during the early days when traders used to bite their coins to determine if they were really made of gold. Real gold is a soft metal that will leave a dent under just a little bit of pressure. It will also leave a mark if the gold is gnawed. If those two things didn't happen, traders would know their coins were not authentic.

The Olympic winners are not checking to authenticate their medals when they pose with them in their teeth. They already know they are not real gold because the International Olympic Committee (IOC) stopped awarding pure gold medals in 1912. Before that time, winners were actually given pure gold medals. Now the medals are made with only about 1.6% gold. The medals are made up of mostly silver and copper. If they were actually solid gold, the prizes would cost the IOC about $17 million.

How Photographers Respond to the Practice

When Olympic winners stand on the podium, many photographers are there to take the victory picture. They want the athletes to do something besides just stand there and smile. Winners have developed the habit of putting their medals in their mouths to satisfy the photographers.

David Wallechinsky, president of the International Society of Olympic Historians, told CNN that the practice has become an obsession with the photographers. They want to get that iconic photographer that will likely make it to the front page of the next issue of newspapers. When they make the request, winners don't mind doing what they have been asked to do. Wallechinsky added, "I don't think it's something the athletes would probably do on their own."

Have There Been Any Accidents?

There have not been many accidents because of the pose, but there is one that did make the news. Back in 2010 during the Winter Olympics, German lunger David Moeller won the silver medal. He broke his tooth while he was posing with his medal between his teeth. Moeller said, "The photographers wanted a picture of me holding the medal just with my teeth, Later at dinner, I noticed a bit of one of my teeth was missing.” The story had a happy ending because Moeller's mother is a dentist.

We see that most of the winners are careful to hold their medals with one hand while also holding them up to their teeth. Therefore, there are no dentists on standby for this tradition.

The Bottom Line

Photographers request the winners to pretend to bite their medals. It is a well-known practice that is symbolic of victory instead of testing the authenticity of the medals.

Enjoy watching the Olympics. Notice the medals in the winners' mouths and remember the reason behind the practice.