Later this month, Team USA will be heading to the 2024 Olympics in Paris. Notably, the US Olympic gymnastics team will include five leading athletes: Simon Biles, Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey, and Hezly Rivera—all of whom will compete wearing custom leotard designs by GK Elite, the sportswear company that has been manufacturing Team USA’s uniforms since 2000. “We’ve really come to know exactly what the athletes like,” says Jeanne Diaz, GK Elite’s design director.
This year’s sparkly—and performance-ready—designs were unveiled today. Diaz and her design team have spent the last two years bringing Team USA’s 2024 leotards to life. “We started that far in advance because we really wanted to make sure we had a strong foundation,” says Diaz, “to come out with a really cohesive collection, in addition to surveying the athletes and getting their input.” GK Elite created over 10 different leotard designs—all in patriotic shades of red, white, and blue, of course.
Though it was important for the leotards to have style—theatrics is part of gymnastics, after all—Diaz says it was crucial for the garments to be built around function. “First and foremost, it is a performance garment; we have to think about their comfort and movement,” she says. To that end, four-way stretch fabrics were employed, including a custom red-dyed stretch satin. “It moves with the body so that their mind isn’t on what they’re wearing,” says Diaz.
With function squared away, the GK Elite design team had fun with aesthetic flourishes. Playing up the glitzy, sparkly feel that is a gymnastics signature, the brand utilized over 10,000 glimmering crystals—per leotard. “Their confidence plays a huge role in their performance,” says Diaz of the athletes and their need for strong fashion looks. “Paris is a fashion capital of the world, so we really leaned into the fashion aspect. We wanted to make sure everybody feels comfortable and confident walking out onto that floor. They love crystals—the more crystals, the better.”
Like many uniforms, Olympic gymnastics leotards have changed significantly over the years. “There’s definitely been a shift in the fabrics that [athletes] want to wear,” says Diaz. “Athletes are more focused on being more comfortable, and they like matte fabrics with crystals. Shiny fabrics are becoming less of a go-to choice.”
The designer adds that the most challenging part of taking on an Olympic design over the years has been reinventing the wheel while still landing a final look that feels celebratory and Team USA–worthy. “These looks become iconic—they’re on Wheaties boxes and magazine covers. It becomes this moment in cultural history. The most difficult part is just making sure we’re doing Team USA gymnastics justice.”
As the women’s team final rapidly approaches on July 30, there’s no doubt that Team USA’s sleek—but shimmering—leotards will have a major impact in the arena. Diaz says a persisting sense of pride and patriotism has always been present in the designs. “I hope the athletes feel confident and proud to represent Team USA,” she says. “The leotards were meant to evoke that feeling of when an athlete wins a medal and [they] receive an American flag and drape it around themselves; I hope that the viewers and the athletes feel that emotion.”
