Gymnast Simone Biles takes a chomp out of her latest gold medal. Photo: AFP/LOIC VENANCE
There are a few things you can expect to see at each Olympic Games.
The gymnastics GOAT Simone Biles executing a death-defying move is one. The Black Ferns Sevens annihilating their competition is another.
But one sight raises more questions than answers: That of winners biting their medals while on the podium.
Here's why they do it.
New Zealand rowers Ollie Maclean, Logan Ullrich, Tom Murray and Matt Macdonald chow down on the silver medals they won in the men's four. Photo: AFP/BERTRAND GUAY
Chewing it over
Back in the day, gold and other precious metals were used as a form of currency.
When a person received a lump of gold, one way to check its authenticity was to bite into it. Gold is softer than other metals, so if your teeth marks were visible, chances were good the gold was real.
In the early days of the modern Olympics, gold medals were just that - pure gold.
However, that practice stopped in 1912, according to the International Olympic Committee.
Nowadays, medals are made of a silver compound, with a few grams of gold for the first-place winners.
This year's medals also each contain a tiny piece of iron from past refurbishments of the Eiffel Tower.
A golden grin
So if the medals are no longer pure gold, why do athletes continue to gnaw on them?
The answer, according to the International Olympic Committee, is simple: Because photographers ask them to.
David Wallechinsky, the president of the International Society of Olympic Historians, previously told CNN the shot had become an "obsession" among photographers.
"I think they look at it as an iconic shot, as something that you can probably sell," he said.
"I don't think it's something the athletes would probably do on their own."
At the 2010 Winter Olympics, Germany's David Möller broke a tooth chomping on the silver medal he won in the luge.
"The photographers wanted a picture of me holding the medal just with my teeth," he told the German publication Bild.
"Later, at dinner, I noticed a bit of one of my teeth was missing."
Injuries aside, the now-famous pose still looms large, and it's likely to be something we continue to see for years to come.
