# Why do Olympic racers have hair/ jewelry? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 19, 2008, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-olympic-racers-have-hair-jewelry/460501 "2008-08-19T00:38:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-olympic-racers-have-hair-jewelry/460501/21 "2008-08-20T03:08:56Z")
Wouldn’t the [LZR Racer](http://www.speedo80.com/lzr-racer/products/male-bodyskin-no-arms/) (and equivalent) suits eliminate the need for shaving, except maybe the pits? ---
**Author:** ![Waenara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@Waenara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waenara)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-olympic-racers-have-hair-jewelry/460501/22 "2008-08-20T05:48:14Z")
I was watching some of the weightlifting the other day, and in one of the men’s weight classes (can’t remember which one), there were two athletes who were tied because they lifted the exact same amount of weight. They both ran out of attempts to lift more weight, so the tie-breaker was that the winner was whoever was lighter. The winner ended up being the guy who weighed in as **5 grams** lighter than the other. That isn’t very much - heck, from looking at him it looked like the second place guy probably has more than 5g of hair on his head. ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-olympic-racers-have-hair-jewelry/460501/23 "2008-08-20T11:00:35Z")
[QUOTE=DesertDog] Wouldn’t the [LZR Racer](http://www.speedo80.com/lzr-racer/products/male-bodyskin-no-arms/) (and equivalent) suits eliminate the need for shaving, except maybe the pits? [/QUOTE] Nope, not unless they wear a suit style that covers all the relevant body parts. Most fly and some free guys don’t like the constriction on the upper body and the slightly more effort necessary to move against the shoulder-to-knees or full-body suits. It also takes literally 20–30 minutes to get into one of the things, according to swimmers who have worn them. Also, if they’re anything like wetsuits, you will lose some leg and arm hair by getting it yanked out when you pull the suit on or take it off. I know this from painful experience. Depends on the swimmer, but probably a lot of them will shave down anyway, even if they’re doing all their major events in one of the new suits. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-olympic-racers-have-hair-jewelry/460501/24 "2008-08-21T12:38:35Z")
I noticed last night how all the track sprinters have these super tight suits on, then stuck to the front is a loose tyvek number stuck on with safety pins. Seems like it defeats the point. ---
**Author:** ![Mathochist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@Mathochist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mathochist)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-olympic-racers-have-hair-jewelry/460501/25 "2008-08-21T13:14:09Z")
[QUOTE=SmackFu] And they should run naked too! [/QUOTE] Spoken like someone who’s never seen anyone running naked. \>shudder\< ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-olympic-racers-have-hair-jewelry/460501/26 "2008-08-21T16:08:53Z")
[QUOTE=SmackFu] I noticed last night how all the track sprinters have these super tight suits on, then stuck to the front is a loose tyvek number stuck on with safety pins. Seems like it defeats the point. [/QUOTE] I kind of wonder what the point of those numbers is. They do kind of detract from the appearance of their suits, which they look to have worked real hard to make real distinctive with their national colors, flags, etc. I suppose they are identification numbers for the contestants, but really…this is the World Olympics. There are only a few competing at a time (up to 10 lanes in swimming, 12 lanes on the track), and many compete individually. Doesn’t seem like it would be that hard to keep track of the dozen or less people competing before the judges. Especially with the very distinctive suits they are wearing. Plus a lot of these are real well-known people. The number seem like an attempt at mindless conformity. But maybe that’s just typical of China. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-olympic-racers-have-hair-jewelry/460501/27 "2008-08-21T17:32:57Z")
[QUOTE=t-bonham@scc.net] The number seem like an attempt at mindless conformity. But maybe that’s just typical of China. [/QUOTE] I don’t think you can blame China, seeing as just about every major athletics tournament, and certainly every Olympic Games, seems to use them. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-olympic-racers-have-hair-jewelry/460501/28 "2008-08-21T17:44:54Z")
[QUOTE=Colophon] I don’t think you can blame China, seeing as just about every major athletics tournament, and certainly every Olympic Games, seems to use them. [/QUOTE] As was mentioned in another thread (which I can’t find at the moment), there’s a tremendous amount of record keeping going on behind the scenes: starting/playing times, drug testing times, times checking in at the Olympic village, etc.. It’s much simpler of every athlete has a unique identifying number. Ed ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-olympic-racers-have-hair-jewelry/460501/29 "2008-08-21T21:26:18Z")
Pretty sure I saw at least one lady Pole Vaulter who wore several rings on her fingers. This struck me as asking for trouble, since so much depends on one’s grip on the pole, and with rings, who knows what’ll happen - cuts =\> infections, etc. ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2008, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-olympic-racers-have-hair-jewelry/460501/30 "2008-08-22T13:42:06Z")
Our gym teachers used to always go on about NO jewelry being allowed in gym class because it would get snagged on things and injure us, etc. When when that Olympic beach volleyball girl lost her wedding ring in the sand I wondered where her head was at. ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2008, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-olympic-racers-have-hair-jewelry/460501/31 "2008-08-22T15:23:17Z")
[QUOTE=suranyi] As was mentioned in another thread (which I can’t find at the moment), there’s a tremendous amount of record keeping going on behind the scenes: starting/playing times, drug testing times, times checking in at the Olympic village, etc.. It’s much simpler of every athlete has a unique identifying number. Ed [/QUOTE] It still seems like they could use iron-ons to attach the numbers directly to their uniforms, or something cooler than having it flap around all over the place. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-olympic-racers-have-hair-jewelry/460501/32 "2008-08-23T04:21:13Z")
[QUOTE=ratatoskK] Our gym teachers used to always go on about NO jewelry being allowed in gym class because it would get snagged on things and injure us, etc. When when that Olympic beach volleyball girl lost her wedding ring in the sand I wondered where her head was at. [/QUOTE] How in the _hell_ do you lose a ring, wedding or otherwise, playing volleyball? Unless it was around her neck or something. When **DesertWife** and I got married, I took the precaution of greasing our ring fingers with lotion to assure no hitches in the sliding on of our rings. It would take some serious pulling to get a ring off even with a slick finger. I can’t imagine anything like volleyball exerting a ring-pulling force. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-olympic-racers-have-hair-jewelry/460501/33 "2008-08-23T13:23:45Z")
[QUOTE=Santo Rugger] It still seems like they could use iron-ons to attach the numbers directly to their uniforms, or something cooler than having it flap around all over the place. [/QUOTE] Agreed – I was thinking that stencils & airbrushes could be used. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2008, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-olympic-racers-have-hair-jewelry/460501/34 "2008-08-23T14:12:34Z")
[QUOTE=bordelond] Agreed – I was thinking that stencils & airbrushes could be used. [/QUOTE] I saw a relay where the guys used a magic marker to write USA on their front race county tag things. Must have lost the printed ones, and got ahold of some blanks. Nice printing there. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-olympic-racers-have-hair-jewelry/460501.md?page=1)