Australia has unveiled its Rio 2016 Olympic uniforms at a lavish event in Sydney, with the cream of the country’s athletes outfitted this time by local designers Sportscraft. Somewhere between school blazers and a preppy seersucker look, the new garb has been received as a successful negotiation of the perennially tough task of making something fashionable out of green and gold.
The 2016 designs have also moved with the times to include a phone pocket, ensuring that the opening ceremony will be a selfie-friendly occasion.
So in honour of the Australian team’s new and improved look, take a stroll down memory lane to some of the other sartorial statements of Australia’s recent Olympic past.
Sochi 2014
Australia’s winter Olympians have often received the rough end of the fashion deal but the boarding school look for Sochi 2014 was certainly not the worst of them.
London 2012
“The wait is finally over,” exclaimed the local press when Australia’s 2012 uniform was unveiled. And it was a case of Don Bradman up top, Don Johnson down below.
In 2012 there was also the added bonus of the Australian Olympic Committee reviving a national icon in the Dunlop volley.
Vancouver 2010
This is where things become a little shaky. There was a clear reason that this launch event appears to have taken place in a dark corner of the designers’ back yard.
Beijing 2008
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to your direct flight to Beijing. Our helpful cabin staff will be around shortly to offer you drinks and some advice on your breastroke technique.”
The less said about Australia’s opening ceremony kit from 2008, the better. Also designed by Sportscraft, this effort was so heavily criticised that the company issued a statement of defence in the Daily Telegraph. Spokesperson Sonia Wong laid the blame at the feet of the athletes themselves. “They were the ones who really wanted something more casual,” she said.
Torino 2006
It’s true that the winter Games don’t draw quite the same level of corporate backing as the summer version but holding this launch in the middle of a networking event for chartered accountants was rough.
Athens 2004
These dreary efforts were best viewed from a distance – across a body of water at the very least.
Fashion-conscious Ian Thorpe was understandably keen to get past the cameras quickly as he departed from Sydney airport.
Salt Lake 2002
Due to mum not being available for the task, Australia’s 2002 winter team were outfitted by dad in a haphazard journey to a section of Myer selling menswear remainder stock from 1995, which had to do for female team members as well.
Sydney 2000
Melinda Gainsford-Taylor’s facial expression probably speaks for everyone present, but when they were thinking about attiring elite athletes for the country’s biggest sporting event of the last half-century, it’s a little odd that the first word that came to to mind was “livestock”.
Well, that or “sartorial bloody Mary”. Australia’s opening ceremony outfit was a design collaboration between Woolmark and Mambo, because when you’re presenting your nation to the world, it’s best to get the people responsible for the farting dog t-shirts involved.
