- The International Handball Federation changed its rules for women's uniforms.
- It previously let women wear only bikini bottoms and
sports bras but now allows shorts and tank tops.
The International Handball Federation changed its rules for women's uniforms after facing backlash for fining a Norwegian team for wearing shorts instead of bikini bottoms.
The Guardian reported on Monday that the federation had quietly changed its rules sometime over the past month - the rules now say that "female athletes must wear short tight pants with a close fit."
The Norwegian women's beach handball team wore shorts instead of bikini bottoms at the European Championships in July. The team was fined 1,500 euros, or about $1,760, for all 10 players breaking the dress code.
-Ina Aletheia (@inaaletheia) July 18, 2021
The rules said at the time that women needed to wear a "tight-fitting sports bra with deep openings at the arms" and a bottom no more than "10 centimeters on the sides," while men could play in shorts and tank tops, Insider's Ashley Collman reported.
The federation's new rules included a graphic of shorts and a tank top for the women's uniform, while a graphic on the old rules showed just bikini bottoms and a sports bra, The Guardian reported.
The Norwegian handball team's members are not the only female athletes to have modified their attire in recent months.
In April, members of Germany's women's gymnastics team wore full-length bodysuits while competing in the European Championships as a stance against the sexualization of the sport. They also wore the suits at the Tokyo Olympics during the summer.
"To do splits and jumps, sometimes the leotards are not covering everything, sometimes they slip and that's why we invented a new form of leotard so that everyone feels safe around competitions and training," the gymnast Sarah Voss said.
"I think that feeling safe and not thinking about what other people can or cannot see is quite relieving when you can compete like that."