Photographers hound athletes to "bite" their medals. “It's become an obsession with the photographers,” David Wallechinsky, president of the International Society of Olympic Historians, told CNN in 2012. ... Real gold is softer than human teeth and, therefore, would be left with a mark if bitten, according to CNN.

Why do athletes bite gold medals?

Biting metal is a tradition

During the California gold rush in the late 1800s, people would bite into gold to test if it was real. The theory was that pure gold is a soft, malleable metal. If a bite left indentation marks on the metal, it was most likely real. If it wasn't, you could break a tooth.

Why do Olympians bite their metal?

Biting medals is a press-pleasing tradition. It is thought to be inspired by the US Gold Rush when miners needed to check nuggets for soft gold as opposed to fool's gold. Weighing between 500g and 800g, gold medals are actually made from silver coated with at least 6g of pure gold.