50 People, 4 Years, 10,000 Swarovski Crystals: How Team USA’s Gymnastics Leotards Get Made

By Alice Ruby On Jul 30, 2024

Gymnastics—like diving and figure skating—is an Olympic sport where artistry and aesthetics are intertwined with athleticism. As Simone Biles and her teammates catapult and contort their bodies this month in Paris, they’ll be doing so in leotards embellished with roughly 10,000 diamond-shaped Swarovski crystals. (That’s nearly 2,000 more than Team USA wore back in Tokyo in 2021.) Wearing the uniforms to compete is the last step in a process that took four years and more than 50 people to complete.

“When I opened up the Olympic leotards, my first thought was that they were absolutely stunning,” Jade Carey, an Olympic gold medalist and 2024 Paris Team USA gymnast, tells SELF. Carey, Biles, Jordan Chiles, Sunisa Lee, and Hezley Rivera, unboxed their new leotards, which were made by gymnastics apparel company GK Elite, earlier this month. “They are full of crystals, super patriotic, and really beautiful,” Carey says. “I can’t wait to see how they shine under the lights in the arena.”

For Jeanne Diaz, GK Elite’s director of design, and Erica Schnebel, the company’s director of marketing, it was a powerful moment. “I’m getting chills still thinking about it,” Schnebel tells SELF. “As they started opening it, I’m watching their faces, I’m watching their reactions, and I think, outside of their excitement, one thing that struck me was Jeanne’s reaction—I looked over and she’s bawling happy tears because that’s her work coming to life,” Schnebel says. “This is a team of athletes we know really well and couldn’t have been prouder of each of them.”

How to make a leotard with 10,000 crystals for the best gymnasts in the world

Diaz notes that each leotard is crafted, first and foremost, with functionality in mind, which starts with intel from the experts themselves. She says that GK Elite polls USA Gymnastics members on what features—from necklines to fabrics to the amount of bling—they’ve most enjoyed, or perhaps disliked, in previous uniforms. Still, as Diaz says, there aren’t usually many surprises. That’s because the company has suited up Olympic gymnasts since 1996, so after almost three decades, they have a pretty good idea of what works and what doesn’t.

Upclose image of crystals on Team USA Leotard

Another way to ensure the leotards help, rather than hinder, performance? They’re each custom-made. “We make a leotard for every athlete that was competing at the Olympic trials, and we have all their sizing ahead of time,” Diaz explains, adding that each garment is laser-cut for super precise measurements. (Basically, they’re meant to feel like a second skin.)

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