FIRST LOOK: USA Gymnastics, GK Elite reveal Olympic leotards earlier than the Video games for the primary time ever

July 10, 2024

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The U.S. ladies’s Olympic gymnastics group within the Go for Glory leo, which is anticipated to be worn for the group ultimate in Paris. (Picture Credit score: GK Elite)

For the primary time ever, USA Gymnastics and attire supplier GK Elite have revealed the U.S. Olympic leotards earlier than the Paris Video games start on July 26.

“A number of American affect, so crimson, white, and blue, might be prevalent, which might be not stunning, however one thing that we actually leaned into,” a GK spokesperson informed Gymnastics Now in Might. “We had been additionally impressed by the situation of the Olympics, so Parisian inspiration married with true Americana.”

A large funding of money and time

The eight ladies’s leos and eight males’s uniforms have been within the making for 2 years, with samples being proven to USAG final August and manufacturing starting in early April.

The ladies’s leos, particularly, function greater than 47,000 Swarovski crystals throughout the eight designs and can function pearls for the primary time as a tribute to the host metropolis of Paris. Whereas the associated fee to supply the leos ranges relying on gildings and different particulars, they begin at roughly $1,000 every and go up from there. A number of the most intricate designs would promote for upwards of $3,000 to $5,000.

With manufacturing taking months, GK can’t wait to see who makes the Olympic group to begin manufacturing.

“We don’t know who the athletes might be, so we really produce far more clothes than will really be wanted for the group, as a result of we contemplate particular person sizing for every athlete, a few of them have particular alterations,” GK stated. “If there’s any type of liner shade, we match that to pores and skin tone. So we’re actually bearing in mind type of all of the variables and all of the potential women which might be at the moment on the nationwide group as being potential members of Crew USA to characterize us in Paris.

“We all the time make far more than we’d like, simply to guarantee that come that evening of [Olympic Trials], when the group is introduced, that subsequent day we actually hand every of these athletes their full equipment of attire that they’ll then take with them to Paris.”

Certainly, a number of members of the ladies’s group had been seen carrying their secretive (and massive) crimson bins by means of the airport the Monday after the group was named. No checking such an necessary piece of baggage!

So what occurs to all the additional leos that had been made?

You’ll be glad to know they don’t go to waste or collect mud in a closet someplace. As a substitute, they’re used for advertising and marketing and PR alternatives. Some get autographed by the athletes who made the group and are used at occasions, and others are used as commemorative items for the reason that women and men get to maintain their private leos.

Maybe probably the most deserving of recipients past the Olympic group are GK staff, who handcraft the clothes at their manufacturing facility in Studying, Pennsylvania. Occasionally, an additional Olympic leo is presented to staff to “share the love” and present appreciation to those that created these artworks.

One other first: all the ladies’s leos and the lads’s group ultimate competitors shirt have been replicated into coaching gear that followers should purchase on-line and put on to cheer on the group all through the Video games and past.

Meet the leos which might be heading to Paris

Revealed Wednesday had been all eight of the ladies’s leos and some of the lads’s designs. Along with the creative gymnastics group, the Olympic trampoline gymnastics group will even put on the equipment.

After the leos had been revealed to the athletes the day after trials, a couple of of the ladies shared their preliminary ideas on the uniforms:

Joscelyn Roberson: “Patriotic. Sparkly. And one of the best I’ve ever seen.”

Leanne Wong: “They’re good. They’ve a lot of rhinestones – that’s good… They’re good this time… Principally patriotic, after which there’s like a metallicy silver one with stars, in order that one’s actually fairly too.”

Go for Glory

Anticipated to be worn through the ladies’s group ultimate on July 30, when the U.S. hopes to win gold, the Go for Glory design is probably the most patriotic of the gathering and displays the “radiant second when an athlete, draped within the flag, transcends to grow to be an emblem of triumph.”

This explicit leo options 9,929 crystals that weight practically a pound. It pays homage to the leo the Magnificent Seven wore on the 1996 Atlanta Video games, when the U.S. ladies’s group gained gold for the primary time.