Ten of the Olympics Games' most memorable team uniforms in modern history

From Ian Thorpe's 'shark suit' to Team India's saris in London, many athletes have dazzled for different reasons over the years

The Mongolian team's uniform represents its history and culture. Photo: Michel & Amazonka

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The fashion-savvy French may not admit it, but the style stakes for the 2024 Paris Olympics have already been won, and not by them.

Instead, the East Asian country of Mongolia has gone viral for its stylish uniforms, created by sisters Michel and Amazonka Choigaalaa, under their brand Michel & Amazonka.

Inspired by historic Mongolian clothing, the looks are a snazzy update of the deel – a traditional side fastening coat – and have set a high bar for what is widely expected to be the most fashionable games ever staged.

The idea of dressing teams in a uniform is relatively new, however. While the Olympics that we know today began in 1896, for many years, competitors wore whatever they wanted, with early competitors arriving in garments that included fur hats or knitted jumpers. Only in the past few decades has the concept of a single mode of dress taken hold, and now even big-name designers are queuing up to help steer a nation's sartorial leanings.

Here we round up the 10 if the most memorable uniforms of all time.

10. Sydney, 2000: Ian Thorpe's 'shark suit'

Ian Thorpe of Australia wore the 'shark suit' for the first time at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, sparking controversy. Getty Images

Technically a uniform for one man only – Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe – his attire at the 2000 Sydney Olympics did however turn swimming on its head. While the event is famous for his record medal haul (three gold medals and a silver medal), it is also remembered for the full-length "shark suit" he wore in the pool.

Foregoing the typical swimming trunks, Thorpe instead wore a custom-made, second-skin suit that covered him from neck to ankle. Designed by Speedo, it was modelled on the unique qualities of shark skin, and gifting Thorpe an unheard-of new level of hydrodynamics. While there is little doubt he would have won his medals wearing the suit or not, it sparked huge controversy, and the suit was adopted by many swimmers before eventually being banned outright in 2010.

9. Rome, 1960: Abebe Bikila winning gold barefoot

A barefoot Abebe Bikila winning the marathon for Ethiopia at the Rome Olympics 1960. Photo: Alamy

Ethiopian runner Bikila made history when he became the first Black African to win Olympic gold. Picking up gold in Rome for the marathon, and setting a new world record to boot, he did it in his own distinct uniform – or lack of – by being entirely shoeless. He went on to win many races and break world records, before being involved in a car crash in 1968 that left him paralysed from the waist down. He retrained to compete in wheelchair, archery and table tennis, an was invited as guest of honour to the 1972 Munich Olympics where he received a standing ovation.

8. Albertville, 1992: Unified Olympic Team

Unified Team at the opening ceremony of the 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Albertville. The oversized coats look like 2024 Balenciaga. AFP

Wearing oversized, matching grey overcoats and peach jackets stretched to the knees, the uniform of the Unified Team – the collective banner given to former USSR countries after the collapse of the Soviet Union – at the Albertville 1992 opening ceremony in France could be mistaken for modern-day collections from Vetements or Balenciaga.

The first sporting event after the 1991 union breakup, this was a truly historic moment and was captured via coats of outlandish proportions. Matched with fedora hats and a scarf, adding more shades of grey to an already serious ensemble, it echoed an uncertainty of what was to come next. Perhaps influenced by the wardrobe seen in the 1990 Warren Beatty/Madonna film, Dick Tracey, the resulting clothes seem to swamp the person inside, perhaps as a form of protection.

7. London, 2012: Team India's yellow saris

India paraded at the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games in a blaze of sunny yellow. Getty Images

Team India wowed the crowd at the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics in wonderfully sunny looking canary yellow saris for the women, with the men matched in yellow pagdis or turbans, complete with the characteristic length of fabric left at the back.

The same ceremony notably had the British monarch "sky dive" into the stadium, adding a humourous note, despite clearly being a stunt double, and this sense of fun was upheld with these glorious saris. While many competitors carried jackets to ward off the London chill, thankfully few felt the need to wear them, leaving an estimated audience of more than 900 million to savour the unexpected but dazzling blast of colour in the city known for being grey.

6. Paris, 2024: Mongolia's high-fashion looks

Mongolian Olympic uniform 2024 by Michel&Amazonka. Photo: Michel & Amazonka

Hands down, this is the most fabulous Olympic outfit to date. Not only beautiful to look at, it ticks all the boxes by referencing Mongolian history and culture. Comprised of streamlined, updated versions of historic pieces, mixing the famous side-fastening "deel" coat with trousers for men and skirts for women, the looks walk that tricky line between being technically complicated, yet calm and elegant.

Covered in plenty of intricate embroidery, the Olympic rings have been stitched front and centre. Outfits that would not look out of place at a fancy event, each is finished with additional details such as high necks and embroidered cuffs. Included too are other elements such as sash belts, long earrings, pouch bags, traditional buryrat hats and embroidered gutal boots – distinctive for the pointed toe – and the looks have drawn cheers from fans the world over.

5. Tokyo, 2020: Kenya's Maasai outfits

Members of Team Kenya at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo 2020. AFP

At the Tokyo Olympics, which were postponed a year due to the pandemic, the Kenya team appeared for the opening ceremony wearing dresses cut from boldly checked red and blue cloth, teamed with billowing red capes. Designed by Kenyan designer Wanja Ngare, the looks were not only bold and eye-catching, but were a strong nod to her own, and Kenyan Maasai culture, where checked cloth and red blankets are worn by many, and are believed to ward off lions, making it a powerful talisman to wear to the Olympics.

4. Seoul, 1988: Flo-Jo's trendsetting body suits

American athlete Florence Griffith Joyner, better known as Flo-Jo, wearing hooded sportswear at the 1988 Summer Olympics. Getty Images

Before there was Sha'Carri Richardson, there was Florence Griffith Joyner, better known simply as Flo-Jo. While Richardson may be famous for her fishnet body suits and big wigs, decades earlier, Flo-Jo swept the medal tables in looks that were bigger and far more outlandish.

Favouring bold, colourful looks, many of which she designed herself, such as a series of colour blocked, one-legged catsuits, Flo-Jo competed at the Seoul Games in a long sleeved body suit, complete with belt and her long hair tucked into a hood. While this is common fare now, Flo-Jo was the trendsetter who started it all. Finished with plenty of jewellery, her one inch nails were also painted red, white and blue for the American flag as well as gold for the medals she was chasing. She won three gold medals and a silver and set two world records at the Seoul Games.

3. Mexico, 1968: Tommie Smith and John Carlos's gloved salute

The black power salute at the 1968 Mexico Olympics by American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos. Photo: Peter Norman

If uniforms offer a language of unity, then the single black glove donned by two African American athletes at the 1968 Mexico Olympics is a perfect example.

At the medal ceremony for the 200 metre race, US sprinter Smith, who won gold, and fellow American and bronze medalist Carlos, each raised a single, black-gloved fist while the American national anthem played. Borrowing the gesture from the American Black Power movement, each man was meant to bring gloves to the event, but Carlos forgot, so had to wear Smith's other glove, hence why his right fist is raised, and not the left.

With their heads bowed, this moment was loaded with meaning. Both were shoeless, to signify Black poverty, while Carlos wore a black scarf to symbolise Black pride, and Smith wore a string of beads to represent victims of racial violence and slavery.

It made both men famous, but came at tremendous personal cost. Booed as they left the podium, the International Olympic Committee later accused the pair of bringing politics into the Olympics and expelled them. Back in the US, they faced widespread hostility including death threats, and were ostracised by the sporting community. Neither represented their country again.

The third man on the podium, Australian silver medalist Peter Norman, was not part of the protest but later expressed his support, resulting in him being left out of future Olympic teams. When he died in 2006, Smith and Carlos were pallbearers at his funeral.

2. Rio, 2016: Egypt's modest wear

Doaa Elghobashy of Egypt wore a hijab to compete at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Getty Images

Not only was this the first time Egypt qualified for Women's Beach Volleyball, but at the Rio 2016 Olympics some of the players wore hijab. The standard women's beach volleyball outfit tend to verge on the skimpy, but Egyptian athletes Doaa El-Ghobashy and Nada Meawad refused to follow this and instead donned modest looks that upheld their religious beliefs. In long sleeves, leggings and head coverings, the looks were in stark contrast to the bikini-sized looks of their opponents.

Although the team crashed out against Germany, Elghobasy later told Associated Press: “I have worn the hijab for 10 years. It doesn’t keep me away from the things I love to do, and beach volleyball is one of them.”

1. Barcelona, 1992: Lithuania's rock-inspired uniform

The Lithuania 1992 Olympics basketball team were sponsored by the The Grateful Dead. Photo Greg Speirs

The Lithuanian Olympic basketball team and The Grateful Dead may seem like an unlikely pair, yet when the American rock band heard that the players were struggling to find funding to get to the 1992 Olympics, they stepped forward to help.

As well as covering the travel costs, The Grateful Dead asked artist Greg Speirs to whip up a T-shirt design for the team. Having worked with the band for years, Speirs reworked one of his motifs, "Skull Man", into a skeleton slam dunking a basketball against a tie dyed background. And that is how the Lithuanian basketball team came to collect their bronze medal dressed in the psychedelia of The Grateful Dead.