The U.S. Gymnasts Have Already Set an Olympic Record: For Crystals

The U.S. women’s Olympic gymnastics team wearing Go For Glory team final competition leotards, covered in almost 10,000 crystals. From left: Jade Carey, Sunisa Lee, Simone Biles, Jordan Chiles and Hezly Rivera.In 2016, shortly before Simone Biles took home five medals at the Rio Olympics while wearing leotards bestrewed with approximately 5,000 crystals, GK Elite, the company behind the leos, announced that it had hit “peak crystal.” GK could not, a spokeswoman said, get any more sparklers on a quarter-yard of fabric.

When it comes to crystals on leotards, however, as when it comes to most Olympian feats, records are made to be broken.

In 2021, at the Tokyo Olympics, the American gymnasts…