All Your Little Questions About the Olympics, Asked and Answered

As we’re watching the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, the amazing feats of all the incredible athletes are obviously top of mind. But sometimes there are some other (lower-stake) happenings that worm their way into our thoughts too. And let’s just say, we’ve racked up a lot of questions as the Paris Games have been unfolding.

We took a deep dive into some of the quirks, technicalities, and other defining factors that make each sport stand out. Go ahead, give the list a read—we bet you’ve had the same burning questions as well. And keep checking back here throughout August; we’ll continue to update this story with more questions and answers throughout the Games.

Why do male gymnasts’ uniforms look like footie pajamas?

For one, as WFLA reports, the footie pj’s are actually stirrup pants and socks. And the choice of uniform is actually for good reason, as Ian Gunther, a four-time NCAA champion at Stanford, explained in an informative TikTok two years ago. While demonstrating on different apparatuses, Gunther says it all has to do with safety and judging.

Loose-fitting clothing can be a safety hazard. “Because our hands are going so close to our legs, it’s easy to catch our thumbs and dislocate them,” he says. “It can also just cause us to fall in unexpected ways.”

Tighter fitting pants help prevent gymnasts’ hands from catching on their clothes. It also makes it easier for judges to see how much their knees are bent during a routine. Pants and socks are required on four out of the six men’s gymnastics events (pommel horse, rings, parallel bars, and horizontal bar).

What’s that cable that fencers are tethered to?

The cable—called a body cord—is connected to the fencer’s uniform and their sword to register when the athletes score points. With such a thin blade and fast strikes, it would be incredibly difficult for judges to determine an accurate point total with the naked eye. That’s where an electrical scoring system, which was first introduced as early as 1933, comes in, according to Olympics.com. Athletes wear an electrically conductive garment called a lamé over the scoring area for each fencing sword type, which picks up each point throughout the bout.

Isn’t it…synchronized swimming? Why is it now called artistic swimming?

The sport got a rebrand in 2017, when the international governing body changed the name. Officials said there was confusion over the term “synchronized,” which actually referred to swimmers mirroring the music, not each other, according to NBC Olympics. The change was met with a lot of criticism from athletes, many of whom signed a petition against the renaming at the time. But the governing body maintained the move would better illustrate what the sport is about—and hopefully lead to greater popularity. So artistic swimming it is.

Why don’t male gymnasts perform their floor routines to music?

Something we noticed while watching women on floor: lots of tunes. When the men hit the mats? Dead silence. According to Georgia Cervin, a former international gymnast and author of Degrees of Difficulty: How Women’s Gymnastics Rose to Prominence and Fell From Grace, when the sport was developed for women, they adapted the men’s version to make it “appropriate” for them. “Women were expected to do soft, rhythmic, flowing, graceful movements that emphasized beauty and flexibility,” she told CNN. “This is why they perform to music, and the men don’t. Men’s floor routines were expected to emphasize strength instead.” While there’s a lot more power in women’s floor now, the music still remains.

Why are swimmers decked out in big puffy coats?

Right before their race, most swimmers look like they’re about to hike on some snow-covered trails rather than dive into the pool. According to Swimming World Magazine, the coat helps keep the athlete warm and their muscles ready to go. “The looser a swimmer is, the better they will swim because they will already be warmed up,” Temarie Tomley, an assistant coach for Georgia Tech, wrote. “Their temperature will then be better as they swim and their range of motion will be greater because they will be looser.”

How do gymnasts compete during their period?

While the fatigue, cramps, and heavy flow don’t make it easy, the best gymnasts in the world find ways to deal with it and earn medals along the way, SELF reported. In 2017, six-time Olympic medalist Aly Raisman told Cosmopolitan that she has had to push through period pain during competitions because, frankly, she has no other choice. While donning skin-tight leotards, gymnasts also have to navigate the stress of a bloody leak or a rogue tampon string, as Olympic gymnast Danusia Francis shared in an essay she wrote for Newsweek in 2021. The Jamaican athlete also timed her birth control pills to skip her period for competitions. As women across every sport have learned, having your period during competitions can be an annoyance, but it’s an important health marker that they can work with.

Why do competitors in archery wear bucket hats?

While our Gen Z friends made bucket hats cool again, they never went out of style for the world’s best archers. It seems that many shooting specialists are drawn to the style of hat for its shape and utility. In 2016, SB Nation came up with a few theories to explain the preference, including that bucket hats shield your eyes without blocking the bowstring. Writer Seth Rosenthal also pointed out it’s possible that powerhouse South Korea helped lead the trend. The women’s team has worn bucket hats for years, including in Paris, where they won their 10th consecutive Olympic gold medal.

How do gymnasts avoid wedgies?

They flip and fly with ease and somehow avoid major wardrobe malfunctions. That’s thanks to a very intentional design that ensures the fabric of gymnasts’ leotards doesn’t slip or slide mid routine. As Jeanne Diaz, the director of design at GK Elite, the exclusive provider of American gymnasts’ on-mat attire for the Olympics, told SELF, the leotard’s fit and material are key to avoiding wedgies. “A proper-fitting leotard is the most effective way to avoid back-side discomfort while competing,” Diaz said. “GK has spent decades developing and innovating proprietary designs, patterns, and specialty fabrics to ensure a perfect fit and performance for our athletes.”

How do you get a gymnastics move named after you?

One of the things that makes the sport so unique is that elite gymnasts have the ability to create a new skill and etch their place in history by getting the move named after them. To accomplish this feat, a gymnast must successfully perform the skill without a major fault for the first time internationally, like at a world championships or Olympic Games, according to the International Gymnastics Federations’ (FIG) Code of Points. The skill must be performed for difficulty value and meet a certain level of difficulty. The difficulty value and name must be confirmed following a technical committee analysis of the performance. The gymnast’s federation is responsible for submitting videos and drawings of the proposed new element to the FIG technical committee president right after the competition. So far, Olympic champion Simone Biles has five elements named after her, and we could see more in Paris.

SELF is your one-click source for all things Summer Olympics. Read our latest coverage of the Paris Games here.