WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – Before they even step up to the mat, the U.S. women’s Olympic gymnastics team will break one of its own records when they compete in Paris for the 2024 Summer Olympics.
The record is embedded in the team’s dazzling new leotards. The company that makes them, GK Elite, has surpassed the number of crystals that they previously featured on the team’s uniforms, going from around 6,400 at the Tokyo Games to an eye-popping almost 10,000 for Paris, according to The New York Times.
With patriotic names such as “Freedom’s Grace” and “Star Spangled Shine,” GK Elite’s leotards were designed for Team USA specifically. But the show-stopping garment saved for the finals, called “Luminous Legacy,” will be the one adorned with close to 10,000 crystals, the Times reports.
Jeanne Diaz, the design director of GK Elite, told the outlet that the leotards are inspired by the city in which the games take place.
“They’re really evening-wear looks,” Diaz explained. “We wanted to lean into that hard for Paris, the fashion capital of the world. So we utilized a lot of high fashion elements, looked at a lot of corsetry, at Art Nouveau architecture, at old Hollywood glamour of the 1920s.”
The uniforms, made in Reading, Pennsylvania, will also feature genuine pearls, according to a press release issued by USA Gymnastics. The release did not specify which uniforms would be made with pearls.
Champion gymnast and Team USA member Suni Lee said she’s “obsessed” with the crystals, and had personally requested GK Elite put more on their uniforms in the past, the Times reported. Matt Cowan, the chief executive of GK Elite, also told the outlet that “everybody looks to Team USA and says, ‘I want to look like that — I want to sparkle like that.”
It may come as no shock, then, that GK Elite currently sells replicas of Team USA’s uniforms online. (The crystals, however, are replaced with what GK Elite calls “Spanglez.”)
Team USA has an opportunity to bring home the gold in Paris, having established itself as a powerhouse in previous competitions. (As a team, USA’s female gymnastics team won silver for the all-around in Toyko, and brought home gold during the two previous Summer Games.) But with their record-breaking style, they’re planning to shine regardless.