Tokyo 2020 Olympics organizers have urged players not to bite the medals as it is made of recycled electronic devices. While it has become a common sight where the athletes on their podium finish while posing for photographs, pose by taking a pretend bite from the medal they just won. The tweet from the Tokyo organizers came as a surprise for many who weren’t aware of the process of making medals this time.
“We just want to officially confirm that the #Tokyo2020 medals are not edible! Our medals are made from material recycled from electronic devices donated by the Japanese public. So, you don’t have to bite them… but we know you still will #UnitedByEmotion”, the tweet read.
With the Games currently underway amid rising Covid-19 rates in Japan, the friendly advice came as ecstatic athletes from many countries followed the old tradition of taking a bite from the medal.
During the current Olympic games, Britain’s Adam Peaty and Tom Daley took a pretend bite out of their gold medals, while Team USA stars and the Estonian fencing team all followed the same.
The Tokyo 2020 medal project, an initiative organizers are using to promote sustainability throughout the Olympics, collected approximately 78,985 tonnes of devices in which around 6.21 million were used phones from across the country to create the hardware. Using accredited contractors, the phones were then picked apart to extract gold, silver and bronze from their parts.
By the end of the process, 32kg of gold, 3,492.7kg of silver and 2,199.9kg of bronze were collected from tons of old mobile phones, laptops and other devices, all of which were used to make around 5,000 medals.
The trend of biting into gold dates back to early 1900’s where the Olympics gave out the first solid-gold medal in 1904. They gave out the last one in 1912. Traders used to bite into the metal to test its authenticity. Because gold is soft and malleable, if a bite left indentations, the metal was most likely to be real. Modern Olympic medals are made of only one per cent gold and Olympians would think twice before trying the bite test.
The practice of medal pretend bite has become more of a photo-worthy, medal-winning moment and has been a trending podium pose throughout competitions across the world.
“It’s become an obsession with the photographers,” Olympic historian David Wallechinsky told CNN.
“I think they look at it as an iconic shot, as something that you can probably sell. I don’t think it’s something the athletes would probably do on their own.”
