Why do Olympic winners bite medals after winning? It's all down to an ancient tradition

If you've been following all of the drama at this year's Olympics in Paris , you'll likely have seen some of the medalists biting their medals as they pose .

It's become commonplace across all sports at this point, but the question is - why? Why do winners bite their medals? Well, it turns out the answer is an interesting one .

Ireland's Daniel Wiffen became the latest to do it on Tuesday night after he made history by winning gold for Ireland, but it's likely that the Olympians themselves don't even know why they're doing the age-old pose.

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It is believed that back in the day, when gold was used as a form of currency, one of the most efficient ways to determine whether or not it was real was to bite into it.

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If you bit into the alleged piece of gold and you spotted a tooth mark, you'd know it was probably real, as gold is more malleable than most other metals. The tradition has stuck around for hundreds of years, with photographers seemingly always instructing athletes to bite their medals.

However, somewhat ironically, a lot of the Olympic winners biting into their medal may be disappointed to learn that their prized possession is not entirely made out of gold.

According to Eurosport, gold medals are approximately 92.5 per cent silver, but six grams of gold is mixed in to guarantee that the medal retains its iconic color.

The more you know!

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