It's an iconic pose amongst athletes: Biting their medals and even trophies on a podium in front of a crowd of photographers.
But the organising committee of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games is now urging medallists not to do so, according to its Twitter post on July 26.
What did the committee say?
"We just want to officially confirm that the #Tokyo2020 medals are not edible," said the Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympics and Paralympics Games.
According to the committee, the Olympic and Paralympic medals are made of recycled metals gleaned from small electronic devices so as to "contribute to an environmentally-friendly and sustainable society."
These small electronic devices were collected from all over Japan from April 2017 to March 2019 as part of the Tokyo 2020 Medal Project.
According to the Olympics official website, approximately 5,000 gold, silver, and bronze medals were manufactured from recycled metals.
Tokyo 2020 medallist who bit their medals
Here are some other athletes who were spotted chomping on their medals.
IZU, JAPAN - JULY 26: Thomas Pidcock of Team Great Britain bites his gold medal and poses with the flag of his country in the background after the Men's Cross-country race on day three of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Izu Mountain Bike Course on July 26, 2021 in Izu, Shizuoka, Japan. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)
TOKYO, JAPAN - JULY 28: Bronze medalists Matteo Castaldo, Marco di Costanzo, Matteo Lodo and Giuseppe Vicino of Team Italy bite their medals during the medal ceremony for the Men's Four Final A on day five of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Sea Forest Waterway on July 28, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
Australia's Jessica Fox bites her gold medal after winning the Women's C1 Canoe Slalom at the Kasai Canoe Slalom Centre on the sixth day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan. Picture date: Thursday July 29, 2021. (Photo by Joe Giddens/PA Images via Getty Images)
CHIBA, JAPAN JULY 25, 2021: Gold medallist Anastasija Zolotic of the United States bites her medal at a victory ceremony for the women's -57kg taekwondo event during the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games, at the Makuhari Messe convention centre. Valery Sharifulin/TASS (Photo by Valery Sharifulin\TASS via Getty Images)
But why do athletes bite their medals?
It could be to check if it is made of pure gold, said the Olympics official website, like how traders in the past bit gold coins to check their authenticity.
Gold, you see, is a soft metal and biting on it leaves a mark.
But, this shouldn't apply to gold medals awarded at the Olympic Games since the International Olympic Committee stopped awarding pure gold medals in 1912.
So why do they keep doing it?
David Wallechinsky, the president of the International Society of Olympic Historians, told CNN that the pose has become an obsession among photographers.
German luger, David Moeller, who won a silver medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics mentioned that the photographers wanted him to pose with his medal in his teeth.
Wallechinsky believed that photographers view these shots as iconic and ask athletes to pose for them.
The takeaway here is that there's nothing more to biting a medal than an iconic pose. It's actually better for athletes not to bite their medals because they might chip a tooth, as Moeller did in 2010.
And indeed the committee ended its tweet with this: “So, you don’t have to bite them … but we know you still will."
Top images: Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympics and Paralympics Games.