Beijing 2022: the 8 best-dressed athletes at the Winter Olympics, from Japans Ice Prince Yu
While it’s not known who designed this costume, Japanese fashion designer Satomi Ito has been credited for many of Hanyu’s outfits and is known to construct her intricate designs based on the music Hanyu sends her.
For his free skate programme “Heaven and Earth,” Hanyu wore a green kimono embellished with gemstones and flowers. It was in this programme that he attempted the quadruple Axel, a risky jump never cleanly completed by any athlete in any competition.
South Korea’s speed skating team turned up at the rink in outfits that contained elements of the Taegukgi, the country’s national flag. The costume – worn by gold medallist Hwang Dae-heon and his teammates – paid tribute to the flag with splashes of red and blue on white.
The stripes across the skaters’ chests also seemed to reference another element of the Taegukgi. The three unbroken lines refer to “heaven”, one of the four symbolic trigrams on the Korean flag.
Many of the South Korean short-trackers’ rivals were dressed in blue, a colour the speed skating community has associated with speed.
Shaun White and Team USA abided by the rule of cool for their Olympics outfits. Hitting the slopes in a bold black and white print, White’s outfit for his final pre-retirement meet certainly stood out.
The US team’s snowboarding outfits were designed by Volcom and included a removable down sweater and vest to provide insulation on the slopes.
According to White’s teammate, half-pipe snowboarder Maddie Mastro, all the Team USA kits came with a polyester rabbit’s foot – a good-luck charm for the athletes.
Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue clinched an Olympic ice-dancing medal on Monday, and the daring black outfits they wore during their routine on February 12 were a fashion highlight in their own right.
Hubbell and Donohue slid onto the ice in sleek, matching outfits, skating to a Janet Jackson medley for their rhythm dance number.
Donohue wore a military-style jacket reminiscent of My Chemical Romance’s frontman Gerard Way in the band’s Welcome to the Black Parade heyday.
Meanwhile, Hubbell’s blinged-out shoulder pads, glittering with rhinestones, ended in tassels.
Hubbell and Donohue have had a decade-long career together. They missed the podium at the Pyeongchang Games with a fourth-place finish and ended their off-ice relationship, per The Washington Post.
The duo continued to compete together professionally – and are now taking a bronze medal home to the USA.
Misato Komatsubara and Tim Koleto paid homage to their home country, Japan, with kimono-inspired outfits. The ice-dancing pair wore matching burgundy costumes embellished with cherry blossoms and silver embroidery, making for one of the most sophisticated outfits on the ice.Komatsubara and Koleto are also partners off the ice and were married in 2017, per Japan News.
The duo finished 22nd in the rhythm dance session on February 12.
Beijing 2022: the best and worst looks at the Winter Olympic Games
Canadian ice dancers Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier took a fashion risk in the rink with bright orange spandex jumpsuits. Their sparkly, bejewelled outfits were made of “hundreds if not thousands” of sequins and rhinestones.
Designed by Peter DeFreitas, who was tasked with making an Elton John-inspired costume, the outfits were initially created in several colours. Gilles decided that it was going to be orange because she wanted a colour that “was so bright” that it had “the most impact”, per The Washington Post.
The 2021 World Championships bronze medallists finished seventh in Beijing.
Wang Shiyue and Liu Xinyu made history by becoming the highest-ranked Chinese ice dancers at a Winter Olympics after finishing twelfth in the finals on February 14, and their delicately embroidered outfits were just as memorable.The costumes were made to resemble traditional Chinese paintings, as seen with Liu’s mountain-landscape-inspired top, per Shanghai-based outlet SHINE. While the top half of Wang’s costume was in an icy blue colour, her skirt transitioned into a deep green, creating a gradient that complemented Liu’s outfit.
“We would like the outfits to represent our home country’s grandiose scenery,” Liu told the outlet.
US-born Filipino skier Asa Miller turned heads at the slopes as he rocked a geometric red, blue, and white ski suit, which he paired with a white helmet. The look was accented with solid blocks of colour.
The 21-year-old is the Southeast Asian nation’s sole representative in Beijing and registered a did not finish (DNF) in the men’s giant slalom on February 13. He finished 70th in the same event at the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang.
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