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13 hidden details you may have missed in Olympic athletes’ outfits
August 9, 20240
At the qualification event, their blue leotards featured red, white, blue, and gold crystals.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.