They'll still be wearing the green and gold, but there's a twist. At the Beijing Olympics, Australian athletes will be sporting natty striped blue-and-white shirts for casual nights out, a plethora of high-tech sportswear and a distinct retro look, in keeping with current fashion trends.
Designed by adidas and tested in Canada, the uniforms combine new fabrics, with suitably new names such as Techfit Powerweb, ForMotion and ClimaCool, with more than a passing nod to fashion's fickle ways.
They were unveiled under the big top at Sydney's Luna Park yesterday, with champion hurdler Jana Rawlinson, diver Melissa Wu, boxer Matthew Corbett and swimmer Andrew Lauterstein doubling up as models along with other members of Australia's Olympic team.
The athletes have not yet worn their outfits in competition but the initial reactions were more than positive. After the recent high-tech, record-breaking ways of the swim team, in Speedo's controversial LZR Racer costumes, hopes were high that something sleek would be on hand in August to assist the nation's runners. Rawlinson, sporting a green-and-gold leotard, said, "It feels fantastic. Split seconds can mean you lose medals. If I need it in the last couple of seconds, it could get me across the line in front."
But what about the uniforms as a fashion statement? Canberra designer Steve Wright, the creative mind behind the Corr Blimey label, said the uniforms were a "fantastic job".
"They kind of combined that Australian tradition of green and gold with a kind of modernity they've taken on new design lines, they've pushed those bold shapes a little bit more, just enough that people will recognise that it's Australian, but far enough for it to be new and exciting." Wright said.
"We're looking back to the late '70s to '80s in fashion. The Olympic uniform should be no different."
But the casual look long-sleeved white shirts with deep blue horizontal stripes and shorts teamed with running shoes failed to impress. "I have to say, it lacks any kind of national recognition you can't tell where it's from or that the wearer is an athlete. It's very bland, it's very banal."
As for the business end of the Olympics, adidas says Rawlinson's leotard will increase her speed by 1.1 per cent by keeping her cooler in the humidity of a Beijing summer.
The sportswear, adidas says, is lightweight and allows wide freedom of movement, and, for the boxing team, there is a singlet and baggy shorts combo that comes in bright cerulean trimmed with white.
Yesterday's offerings showed how far Olympic outfits have come, but for Olympic marathon runner Robert de Castella, they still mean the same thing.
De Castella, who once sported a shirt emblazoned with a kookaburra, the Australian team's uniform back in 1984, said the uniforms were an attempt to "capture the culture and the essence of a country". To dress in the uniform of an Australian athlete was "an incredibly proud experience". with AAP
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