When Simone Biles and the rest of the American women’s gymnastics squad take the floor at the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics, they’ll be wearing the most elaborate — and expensive —Team USA leotards the Games have ever seen. Bedazzled with close to 5,000 Swarovski crystals each, the uniforms would retail for an average of $1,200, according to the New York Times.
As a point of reference to how rapidly the number of crystals sewn onto the leotards has recently grown, consider that when Gabby Douglas won gold in London in 2012, she was adorned in 1,188 of the gems. Nastia Liukin wore only 184 in 2008.
“It’s difficult for me to imagine how we could get more crystals on,” Kelly McKeown, executive vice president for design and corporate relations at GK Elite — the company that makes the uniforms — told the New York Times. “We may have hit peak crystal.”
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