At the Paris 2024 Olympics, the women of Team USA's gymnastics quintet took home the gold during the team final on July 30 and looked fabulous while doing it. Beyond their world-leading skills, the art of shining on the mat is in the performance — that's why each competition look was thoughtfully designed to be functional and sparkle as bright as the athletes wearing them.
In the City of Lights, it's only right that the golden girls of gymnastics glow under the arena spotlight. As "one of the most watched and celebrated events of the games, it is an honor to help bring sparkle to the world's biggest stage," said Swarovski's creative director Giovanna Engelbert in a press release.
The team's dazzling uniforms were created by GK Elite, which has produced leotards for the U.S. national gymnastics team since the mid-'90s. Glamorous Americana was the theme; every star and stripe was adorned with at least 10,000 Swarovski crystals, with some applied by hand.
Each athlete on the team gets eight leotards for different performances, requiring an impressive 47,000 Swarovski crystals for each gymnast, according to Swarovski.
On the world stage, more is definitely more, so their bedazzled leotards were also embellished with Swarovski pearls as an ode to Paris, the world's fashion capital and host of the Paris 2024 Olympics.
"Not all host cities lend themselves to inspiring a fashion collection, but Paris, being the fashion mecca of the world, really does," said GK Elite's director of design, Jeanne Diaz, in an interview with wellness magazine SELF.
Diaz spilled some behind-the-scenes tea on just how an Olympic gymnast's leotard is made, like each piece being laser cut to achieve the perfect fit and the design process beginning four years ago. (They also required 50 people to make them!)
No detail was overlooked, from matching scrunchies to patriotic names for each outfit, like "Star-Spangled Shine," "Luminous Legacy," and "Go for Glory," a flag-inspired leotard that they proudly wore at the gymnastics team finals.
Call it manifestation, but the team took the top spot on the podium, and Simone Biles broke yet another record by officially becoming the most decorated athlete in Team USA's gymnastics history. It's safe to say it was a slay all around for Team USA.
