Showing their pride! Since ladies’s gymnastics was once first offered to the Summer Olympics at the 1936 Berlin Games, the athletes’ uniforms have grow to be intertwined with the recreation. 

With the 2020 Tokyo Olympics formally kicked off and the ladies’s festival in equipment, it handiest felt appropriate to have a look back at the leotards through the years. 

For this 12 months’s pageant, Simone Biles, Sunisa Lee, Jordan Chiles, Grace McCallum, Jade Carey and MyKayla Skinner represented the United States in taste! 

The authentic uniforms, which made their grand debut on the mat, are designed by means of GK Elite Sportswear and are blinged out in so much (we repeat: a lot) of Swarovski crystals. 

“The very first thing you should know about this competition leotard is that it’s made of utterly recycled fabric in a nod to Tokyo’s focal point on sustainability, especially for this competition year,” GK Elite Sportswear wrote via Instagram on Sunday, July 25. “We didn’t forestall there regardless that, over 76 stars are both sewn or glued to this leotard in tribute to America’s founding 12 months: 1776. In total, this festival leotard makes use of over 6,400 @swarovski crystals in Brilliance, Clear, and Metallic Gold in quite a few dimensions and shapes. The replica model of the beautiful National Team competition leotard is now to be had at gkelite.com! #gkelite #youareachampion #youaregk #AsSeenInTokyo

While this yr’s uniforms have their fair share of sparkle, that wasn’t always the case. Rewind the clock to the beginning and the leotards took a much more low-key method. 

From lengthy sleeve black bodysuits and spandex options, the seems to be had been sensible and somewhat simple. As time went on alternatively, the uniforms turned into much more spirited.

In 1984 for example, at the Los Angeles Olympics, Mary Lou Retton, who was the first American to win a gold medal in gymnastics with her individual all-around score, wore a flag design on her uniform. 

Red, white and blue topics remained for years, with athletes like Shaun Johnson, Dominique Dawes and Brandy Johnson dressed in somewhat different, yet similarly patriotic variations. 

When the 2012 London Olympics rolled round, the crew switched up their taste. Gabby Douglas, who used to be part of the Fierce Five, wore an iridescent silver leotard that was once seriously glossy. 

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The outfits at the 2016 Rio Olympics have been all about glitz. Aly Raisman, Laurie Hernandez, Madison Kocian, Biles and Douglas had bodysuits with more than 5,000 crystals. 

To talk a look back at Team USA’s Olympic uniforms through the years and in celebration of the Tokyo Olympics, stay scrolling. 

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