I’ll admit it’s been a glorious two weeks of Olympic activities. Although I initially intended to remain blissfully unaware of its snowy-peak and frozen-lake activities, I just couldn’t tear myself away from the beautiful boob tube images of dreams being shattered by little more than melting snow. After this Presidents Day, I think snow’s power to ruin our aspirations is something we all can relate to as a campus community.
Besides my revelation that snowboarders coming down the half-pipe bear stunning resemblance to Ewoks, I discovered that for some athletes, fashion can make all the difference between landing at the top of the podium and spending the evening after your event drinking away your sorrows in the Olympic village.
Take, for example, the case of Russian ice dancers Maxim Shabalin and Oksana Domnina. Fresh off of a World Championship victory, the couple took their Australian Aboriginal themed program to the Olympic Games. If you’re wondering what an Aborigine looks like on ice (or at least how the Russian skating team interprets such a paradox), allow me to explain: the couple wore indigenous, tribal-looking costumes of dark skin-toned spandex with sewed-on leaves and white paint markings on their bodies and faces.
Needless to say, the look was completely authentic and well-received by the Australian Aborigine community… Not.
The two looked more like a Down Under Disney On Ice minstrel show than an Olympic-level performance. Aboriginal leaders and the Olympic Committee, which encouraged the team to tone down the outfits for competition, justly reprimanded the pair. Maxim and Oksana ultimately left the blackface in Moscow, but the surrounding hype and pressure from the media regarding the couple’s threads rather than their throws undoubtedly contributed somewhat to their disappointing third-place finish.
In contrast to these wardrobe misfire, American ice skater Jonny Weir managed to use his fasion sense to benefit his athletic performance. Weir’s clothes both on and off the ice reflect his outlandish, flamboyant personality and generate positive, politically-correct hype around his performances. Weir designs his own costumes, clearly drawing on some of the same influences as Lady Gaga. Weir even plans to launch a clothing line of his own at the end of this season. His swan costume from the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin may have inspired the Blades of Glory parody of the ensemble, but maybe that’s the kind of publicity a certain Russian ice-dancing duo should aim for when outfitting themselves for their next big gig.
Check out Keenan’s skin-colored spandex that made Jonny Weir blush at ktimko@georgetownvoice.com
