“Professional athletes should be able to compete without dedicating brain space to constant pube vigilance.”
So said U.S. Olympic track champion Lauren Fleshman, who was less than impressed when she saw the new, Nike-designed uniforms that American athletes will be wearing in the upcoming 2024 Summer Olympics. She took to Instagram to let the world know, asserting that competitors shouldn’t have to juggle “the mental gymnastics of having every vulnerable piece of your body on display.”
She’s not the only one put off by the women’s unitards, which were unveiled late last week at a product launch in Paris – and which are, indeed, far more revealing than any of the options designed for men competing in this year’s Olympics. The most controversial bit is the high, wide cut at the hip and panty line that exposes much of the wearer’s pelvis.
Athletes’ reactions have been swift, largely negative – and quite witty. As fellow track star Tara Davis-Woodhall more pointedly phrased it in her own online post: “Wait, my hoo-haa is gonna be out.” Added Paralympic medalist Jaleen Roberts in an online comment: “This mannequin [in the social media post debuting the outfits] is standing still and everything’s showing … imagine MID-FLIGHT.”
Beyond their practical concerns, though, athletes are also ringing the alarm about the skimpiness of the outfits because it serves, they say, as a prime example of the pervasive sexism faced by women in sports.
It’s not a new problem, of course. German players competed in full-body suits during the Tokyo Olympics, for example, in their own stand against the revealing outfits women players are often forced to wear. And we do mean forced – in 2021, the Norwegian women’s handball team was fined for declining to wear bikini bottoms to play. Examples abound of double standards and mandated discomforts beyond that.
Nike told Reuters in an emailed statement that their 2024 Olympics uniforms come with other options, such as shorts, to suit athletes’ respective comfort levels. But what of the athletes who would prefer to wear more traditionally cut briefs or unitards, to better perform in their respective events, the athletes asked in response?
Said Fleshman: “This is not an elite athletic kit for track and field. This is a costume born of patriarchal forces that are no longer welcome or needed to get eyes on women’s sports.”
