Nike’s U.S. Women’s Olympic Uniforms Are Getting Smoked for, Uh, Obvious Reasons (and Those Reasons Involve Showing Labia)
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The 2024 Paris Olympics may be months away, but we already have a controversy on our hands that involves....a lot of labia? Let me explain: Last week, Nike unveiled its new Olympic uniform styles and silhouettes for athletes to wear during the 2024 Olympics, but one piece sparked a ton of controversy, with champion distance runner Lauren Fleshman describing it as a “costume born of patriarchal forces.”
The design in question is a high-cut unitard option for Team USA's women's track and field athletes, and many have scrutinized the, uh, lack of fabric. The women's option was first posted by Citius Mag and features a high-cut leg slit that barely covers the groin. It was photographed next to a men's shorts option featuring noticeably more coverage, and the contrast has infuriated fans and athletes alike.
Remarks flooded in from far and wide, including from American Paralympian and track and field athlete Jaleen Roberts, who commented, “This mannequin is standing still and everything’s showing…imagine MID FLIGHT.”
Lauren Fleshman, for her part, wrote a lengthy statement on the app that made a number of sharp points. “Professional athletes should be able to compete without dedicating brain space to constant pube vigilance or the mental gymnastics of having every vulnerable piece of your body on display,” the former U.S. track and field athlete penned. “Women’s kits should be in service to performance, mentally and physically. If this outfit was truly beneficial to physical performance, men would wear it.”
In response to the controversy, Nike clarified in an email to Reuters that it is “offering athletes unitard options with both a brief and a short for this Olympics, whereas it only offered the brief for the Tokyo Olympics.” So, unlike in previous instances, no U.S. track and field athlete will be forced to wear the unitard against their wishes.
Additionally, NPR noted that a Nike spokesperson said the following in an email: “We showcased some of the new Olympic uniforms at the Nike On Air experience in Paris—but, as we are a few months from the Games and working with limited samples in a limited format presentation, not all looks and styles were featured.” The company also mentioned that female runners will be offered nearly 50 styles to choose from, including shorts, and that Nike will have tailors available at the Olympics and Paralympics for athletes to consult if they wish.
USA Track and Field, for its part, said in a statement to CNN that its athletes were consulted throughout the design process: “Athlete options and choices were the driving force for USATF in the planning process with Nike. USATF is also aware that Nike consulted with athletes throughout the design process to ensure that all athletes are comfortable and that the uniforms are well-suited for their respective events.”
It's important to note that the criticism against Nike's design presentation comes amid a broader plea to stop sexualizing women's sports in all facets, including through the apparel athletes wear. Case in point? At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the German women’s gymnastics team opted to wear full-body unitards that stretched to their ankles over bikini-cut ones—an effort aimed at showing that “every woman, everybody, should decide what to wear.”
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