13 hidden details you may have missed in Olympic athletes' outfits
Talia Lakritz
- The US women's gymnastics team's leotards featured nods to French fashion and the American flag.
- Athletes from Russia and Belarus wore neutral outfits due to sanctions imposed by the IOC.
Olympic athletes often move at such mind-boggling speeds that it can be difficult to notice subtle details in their outfits.
Some Olympians competing in Paris wore looks that celebrated their home countries or sports. Others paid tribute to their families or the host city.
Here are 13 details you might have missed in athletes' outfits at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The US women's gymnastics team wore leotards inspired by Fourth of July fireworks for podium training.
The sparkles on the leotard were also meant to evoke the Eiffel Tower when it lights up at night in a tribute to the host city, according to GK Elite, the sportswear company that designs Team USA's leotards.
At the qualification event, their blue leotards featured red, white, blue, and gold crystals.
The gold crystals were added among the patriotic colors as an ode to Team USA's past gold-medal wins, according to GK Elite.
The crystals outlined negative-space stars — a symbol of the American flag.
The backs of the leotards also featured a faux lace-up design modeled after French corsets.
Team USA's leotard for the women's team final paid tribute to the 1996 US women's gymnastics team known as the "Magnificent Seven."
In 1996, the US women's gymnastics team won its first all-around gold medal wearing white leotards with American flag designs on the shoulders.
GK Elite created similar leotards for the 2024 women's all-around final, featuring 9,929 crystals.
Team USA followed in the Magnificent Seven's footsteps, winning the all-around team gold medal in Paris.
Suni Lee's leotard for the individual all-around final served as an ode to haute couture.
Jeanne Diaz, design designer for GK Elite's parent company, Elite Sportswear, previously told Business Insider that the leotard's lace-like crystal pattern and flowing lines evoked the Art Nouveau movement, a popular aesthetic in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
For the individual all-around final, Simone Biles wore a leotard with corset-like lines and subtle stars and stripes on the sleeves.
The leotard design, titled "Luminous Legacy," included nods to French corsets and Wonder Woman armor in the lines of the bodice, Diaz previously told Business Insider.
The sleeves featured stars printed into the mesh fabric using a technique called sublimation, as well as crystal stripes, in a reference to the American flag.
Biles celebrated her all-around gold medal with a diamond goat necklace, symbolizing her status as the GOAT or greatest of all time.
Janet Heller, the founder of Janet Heller Fine Jewelry, told Business Insider that Biles commissioned the goat necklace from her company. The 14-carat white gold piece sparkled with 546 diamonds and took five weeks to make.
Lee's white leotard for the balance beam final featured several nods to French fashion.
According to GK Elite, the leotard's white jacquard mesh on the sleeves and bodice was modeled after French lace.
It also included 970 pearls and 3,494 red, white, and blue crystals, mixing French and American sensibilities.
Lee was one of several gymnasts who fell off the beam and placed sixth in the competition.
Biles' leotard for the balance beam final featured an American flag made of crystals at the hip.
The leotard design, titled "American Anthem," was also inspired by the flowing lines of Art Nouveau, according to GK Elite.
The flag was made of 386 Swarovski crystals, and the entire leotard contained a total of 5,297 crystals.
Biles also fell off the beam during her routine and placed fifth.
Lee wore a red leotard titled "City of Lights" inspired by Paris' moniker for the uneven bar final.
The leotard's design drew inspiration from the City of Lights and "the refraction of light coming off of buildings and streets in Paris," according to GK Elite.
It also shone with 3,600 crystals at the women's uneven bars final, where Lee won bronze.
Letsile Tebogo of Botswana wore running shoes adorned with his late mother's date of birth.
Tebogo won the men's 200-meter final and clinched Botswana's first-ever Olympic gold medal. His shoes featured a patch that read "EST 25-12-1980" to honor his late mother.
"It's basically me carrying her through every stride that I take," he told Reuters.
Romanian table tennis player Bernadette Szocs painted a miniature table tennis racket on her pointer finger.
Her manicure also featured the Olympic rings and the Romanian flag.
Szocs and her teammate lost against South Korea in the women's mixed doubles quarterfinal.
Kim Ye-ji of South Korea wore her young daughter's stuffed elephant toy at the women's air pistol events.
The good luck charm worked — Ye-ji won silver in the women's 10-meter air pistol final.
Athletes from Belarus and Russia competed as part of Team Individual Neutral Athletes wearing teal and white outfits.
The International Olympic Committee imposed sanctions on Russia and Belarus due to the war in Ukraine.
Athletes who are in the Russian or Belarusian military, work for national security agencies from either country or actively support the war in Ukraine were barred from the 2024 Olympics, according to the IOC.
Olympians from Russia and Belarus who were cleared to participate could not display the flags or colors of their home countries. Instead, they competed as part of Team Neutral Athletes, wearing teal and white.
Tennis players Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider were among the 32 neutral athletes at the 2024 Olympics. The pair won silver in the women's tennis doubles event.
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