To think that female athletes could be in shorts rather than arse-cheek-revealing pants?

[Corksoles]

I've just watched several athletes with tan lines that suggest their usual and thus presumably preferred leg wear is short length. Why isn't that the uniform style for the Olympics? (Although shout out to Ethiopia - nice shorts!)

I can see the track athletes' (and could see the gymnasts') arse cheeks. I don't get it. It makes me feel a bit uncomfortable, not least as presumably a fair chunk will be on their periods. And if I was a rather brilliant 17 year old, on this huge global stage, I think I'd rather wear what I was used to.

Haven't seen one bloke's arse cheek.

YABU - let's see women's arses. Must be for sport and not because these decisions are taken by old men.

YANBU - more functional shorts.

I absolutely take the points that lots of female competitors will either medicate or train their way out of periods. But there's been plenty of coverage of female rugby players wanting darker shorts for this reason - clearly I'm not the only person who has leaks. I don't think it's that mad to consider as a factor in sportswear design. The less superfluous stuff you have to worry about, the better, no?

The swimmers and divers will shave, removing body hair is meant to reduce resistance (and when we’ve lost two golds by 0.02 of a second, every tiny bit does count!)

I had no idea how many prudish people there are in the world. I couldn't care less what they wear, and had I been fortunate enough to be a world class athlete would be more than happy to wear the "humiliating and demeaning" uniform.

Incidentally I saw one of my country's runners wearing a couple of options - one was a one piece outfit, the other tiny knicker like pants and a crop top. Guess which one she was planning to wear to race it? If she can cope, why can't you?

I'm guessing some of you on this thread aren't actually sports fans or you would have seen women wearing these type of clothes beforehand. Maybe find something else to watch which is more suited to your sensibilites.

I've never been in the habit of flashing a lot of skin, but I will never police what others wear. What on earth gives random posters on MN the right to decide what athletes, or indeed anyone, should wear?

I know, and I have followed this in tennis too. It is really interesting to hear women acknowledge that this affects their performance. Some veterans have chimed in to say the same. Wimbledon relaxed its colour rules in response to feedback from women in recent years, having tightened up for a decade or so before.

But what I am seeing on this and the gymnastics thread is people saying oh no, women can't possibly actually want to wear these clothes, when the evidence is, simply, that women want a choice. And that given a choice, they will frequently choose clothes that some women on this site don't approve of.

Plus a lot of training time isn't spent trying to perform to optimal event standard. There'll be different sessions focusing on different aspects of the sport at a time- stamina, speed, strength, technique. There often isn't the benefit of optimal performance kit for much of the training, and not enough to justify its cost and limited longevity. Normal range of quality sports kit will usually suffice.

But why do you think people haven't considered this?

How do you know what the athletes have on under their short shorts?

Isn't it unlikely that they haven't considered and worked on this scenario?

Here is American pole vaulter Katie Moon on this year's Olympic kit

Oh FFS here we ago again. Policing female athletes’ kit choices. If an athlete prefers briefs she wears briefs. If she prefers shorts she wears shorts. Same with singlet vs crop top.

A little secret: athletes are proud of their bodies and many like to show them off, a great set of abs and massive quads are good for intimidating the other competitors.

As for the tan lines, yeah training kit and race kit is different, no one is putting the miles in round the streets of Doncaster in March in a crop top and briefs, unsurprisingly.

This always comes up, especially for volleyball. Most countries give athletes a choice in what version of the uniform to wear.

@Oftenaddled thats absolutely brilliant and cogently expresses what the athletes I know say.

Nb I'm not offended by arsecheeks. And very supportive of choice and performance but also a bit tired of women being sexualised and objectified.

I think the Holly Bradshaw fight to get what looks like a sensible sleek sports kit suggests there's not quite the choice that some suggest. Although very interesting to note that women choose tighter for competition.

Women are choosing to have their arse cheeks hanging out at Sainsbury’s and everywhere else these days it seems. Why should the Olympics be any different?

Sick of seeing acres of arse to be honest, YANBU.

My country's top pole volter is a happy, bubby, young woman who doesn't look at all upset with what she is wearing - and I've seen her wearing the same thing whenever she competes, so it's nothing to do with the Olympics. How do you know whether athletes are happy or not with what they wear - have you discussed it with any of them?

Why don't you people who obviously only ever wheel yourself out to watch sport every four years at the Olympics just keep your opinions to yourselves!

I think wearing less aerodynamic clothing is more of a worry for most people in competitive sports than leaking from a heavy period. Many women time things to avoid periods during a major competition. Others simply don't have heavy periods and can make do with tampons etc. The chances that any of the women you see in an Olympic competition are having heavy periods is reasonably slim and while they should have a choice of clothing, all of the other women should not have to dress more conservatively to match.

Periods are a pain and will interfere with your gold medal chances anyway. Let's not condemn all women to lesser sporting achievement by expecting them to dress conservatively all the time just in case. By all means consult and offer choice on colour, fabric and shape. But don't expect to see sportswomen in period proof clothing whenever they compete. That doesn't reflect their reality.

Oh! The Olympics is not meant to be widely watched. Oh! Sorry. The huge expense and TV and radio coverage is just for people who go along to meets at Crystal Palace. My profuse apologies.

@ForGreyKoala and that is amazing that she feels happy with what she wears and absolutely shouldn't be forced to wear anything else. It's not unreasonable to ask that others also get to wear what they're comfortable in without a battle whether that's a cropped top or something covering more like Holly asked for?

Honestly this type of thread and what feels like the 100s of others from women on here make me feel self conscious about what I wear when I exercise. I run quite a bit, running for me is more comfortable the less I wear. I don't get chub rub so short shorts work well for me, they are comfortable, my legs feel free and as cool as they can be, running in a sports bra is most comfortable too but something I only do when I am out in the middle of nowhere because I feel so self conscious of judgement but clothes clinging to my sweaty body is uncomfortable.

The constant comment on what women choose to wear while exercising, the making it about you and how you feel looking at our bodies, it's gross and unnecessary. It's wraped up as concern but it reads like judgement to me. Women have the choice of what they want to wear, let them choose for whatever reasons they want, if it's because they are proud of their abs or they don't like fabric sticking to their bodies, it's of no concern to you. Just look away if women's bodies make you feel uncomfortable.

The point I'm making is that many of you have obviously never actually watched women competing anywhere but the Olympics so you can't call yourself sports fans - and yet you think you are entitled to have an opinion on what they wear!

If you are only watching sport so you can pass judgement on what athletes wear then why bother watching at all?

I voted YABU because if you look at the available uniforms, they have the choice of tight sorts, baggy shorts or running knickers.

So no-one is forcing anyone in to kit they don't want.

There are rules, for every sport. Look it up. . Gymnasts used to be required to wear particular underpants that were visible under the costume but that has changed. Some sports attire improves performance, others it’s a style choice.
Not sure we need to tell other women what to wear.

On a daily basis, on the street, we are subjected to unsightly flesh why complain about elite athletes?

This is from an American pole vaulter:

"Olympic pole vaulter Katie Moon said: “I absolutely love people defending women, but we have at least 20 different combinations of a uniform to compete in with all the tops and bottoms available to us.”

Goodness me, lots of STFU here from the pro-arse cheek people. How rude. Even if there is a bona fide reason for it, people have a right to question what might appear to be double standards or sexist defaults.

God knows, the IOC have sanctioned (and awarded gold medals for) male violence against women this week and they have warned the press not to report facts so the misogyny is most definitely alive and kicking (and covering their tracks).

FWIW op I agree with you. Lots of women seemingly ‘choose’ to wear oppressive and/or objectifying clothing to appease male standards because we live in a world designed for men. It’s a powerful and clever ideology that makes us all feel that women baring all is fine but men wear what’s practical. Just look at today’s news of Kayne West and his new wife. That’s patriarchy personified. The Olympics is turning out to be the same.

@ForGreyKoala that wasn't the case for Team GB in Rio though, I posted the link earlier in this thread. Holly Bradshaw didn't initially have access to appropriate kit that made her feel comfortable and had to get a rowing suit instead.

Fabulous for Katie and team USA (I loved Sha'Carri's kit this morning) but maybe not all federations have the same availability.

But why are you saying they don't get a choice?

The thing we really don't get a choice about is physics, though. And broadly speaking, small clothes supporting key body parts (different btwn men and women) > nudity > larger and looser fitting clothes for aerodynamics.

These are functional clothes. There will be cases where women have personal styles, personal preferences, personal priorities. But atlhletes aren't wearing skimpy clothes to flash a bit of flesh. They are wearing outfits designed and / or known from experience to enhance their performance.

Also, athletes have warm-up layers to wear around until it's time for action.
They're not wandering around Paris in their performance kit between events.