Nike’s uniforms for the U. S. Women’s Olympic Track and Field Team are all available. U. S. athletes have come under heavy complaints from current and former athletes, alleging unnecessarily narrow design and sexist undertones that have drawn the ire of women around the world, including those on competing Olympic teams.
Nike on Thursday unveiled a sneak peek of the track suits at an event in Paris, the host city of the 2024 Summer Olympics, that included a men’s uniform consisting of a compression tank top and mid-rise shorts and a women’s jumpsuit that fit for height. on each leg.
The jumpsuits were criticized for their revealing cut and appearance that would require “complicated intimate care,” as the New York Times put it.
Olympic hurdles champion Queen Harrison Claye, who is sponsoring the U. S. team this Olympic season by the European Wax Center, and two-time Paralympian Femita Ayanbeku on the U. S. team, commented on Instagram: “This is obviously a joke. “
Abigail Irozuru, a long jumper from England, shared a photo with the comment: “Was a female athlete in this team outfit consulted?!?”Sha’Carri Richardson, a two-time world championship gold medal-winning sprinter, modeled in For the occasion she was still wearing the compression shorts edition of the set.
Nike did not respond to Forbes’ request for comment, but John Hoke, Nike’s chief innovation officer, told The Times that the two uniforms unveiled Thursday were just one of many features that will be available to athletes.
“Professional athletes can compete without dedicating area of the brain to constant public surveillance or intellectual gymnastics to expose each and every vulnerable component of their body,” Lauren Fleshman, a multi-U. S. championship runner, posted on Instagram.
Katie Moon, an Olympic gold medalist in the pole vault, tweeted that the uniform wasn’t as revealing on her body as she had hoped. “Today I tried the same taste and I didn’t feel worried about it. . . stuff. . . . that were dating,” he posted. I think it’s just the doll. “
The verbal exchange around uniforms for female athletes has intensified since 2021, when Norway’s women’s national beach handball team rebelled against the regulation bikini bottoms they were required to wear when showing up to compete in thigh-high shorts. They were fined $1,700 up to the European Handball Association and sparked a global debate over why women compete in bikinis or skinny spandex while men, who compete in the same events, are presented with more modest options. The following week, Germany’s gymnastics team wore ankle-length jumpsuits instead of the same old legless leotards for Olympic qualifiers, and women’s soccer teams last year stopped wearing white shorts at the World Cup, as a comment on menstrual anxiety among female athletes.