It’s been a topsy-turvey path to the medal podium for a lot of Olympic-level rowers.
At the 2012 London Olympics, Outsports generated conversation about male rowing athletes medaling and accepting their medals wearing skin-tight pants. Those pants were… revealing.
For the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, it seemed guys were covering up, lest they — god forbid — reveal too much about what lies underneath. Rowers would put on loose-fitting clothing before taking to the podium to accept their Olympic medal.
Now ahead of the 2024 Olympics in Paris, the rowers seem to be loosening up — or tightening up, as it were — again.
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Male rowers now wear loose pants at medal ceremonies after 2012 bulge pics went viral
Rowers’ revealing uniforms generated plenty of chatter during the 2012 London Olympics. Gay men loved it, but medal uniforms have changed.
By Cyd Zeigler | July 29, 2021
For years, rowers accepted medals on the podium in their skin-tight pants. The revealing appearance by the male athletes in particular drew tons of interest from Outsports readers, and gay men in particular.
One rower’s wife even got in on the act, letting the world know she was very happy with her husband.
Then after 2016 — and Outsports’ widespread observations about the rowing bulges — suddenly those loose-fitting pants adorned the medal podiums.
Here’s how rowing athletes showed up at the medal podiums when the “fear of the bulge” took precedence.
Yet in the last couple of years, everyone seems to have realized this was unnecessary, and many male rowers are taking to the podiums again with their skin-tight pants.
The fear of the bulge seems to have lost this back-and-forth.
The rowers aren’t the only athletes who wear these revealing outfits. Have you watched the men’s 100-meter dash? Let alone diving?
There is one publicly out gay male rower competing in Paris: Robbie Manson of New Zealand. He and his rowing partner, Jordan Parry, are through to the semifinals.
Of course Manson would have no problem with wearing anything on the medal podium, as he has a robust offering of photos.
The bodies of athletes are marveled the world over. None of them should feel self-conscious. These are our bodies, for too long men have been told to cover up, and it’s perfectly fine for men to — as women have for so long — be very out there and proud of their bodies.
