Curling with a zig and a zag

If the Sochi Olympics were a competition in conspicuous outfits, the Norwegian curling team would win a gold medal. Tuesday, they showed off their rather unconventional Olympic outfits.
Some remember the team from the 2010 Vancouver Olympics because of their loss against host nation Canada in the curling final. Most people, on the other hand, remember their pants.
Plain black pants had been an omnipresent part of curlers’ equipment for ages, and drawing as little attention as possible seemed to be the norm. The Norwegians wanted to change that.

In Vancouver, the team’s bright red, white, and blue checkered pants – motivated by the colors of the Norwegian flag – gave curling, a sport that was first accepted as an official Olympic sport in 2006, more off-ice attention than the team ever had expected.

Tuesday, only weeks ahead of the Sochi Olympics, the Norwegian team showed off their new Olympic uniforms in New York City: tailor-made suits in a red, white, and blue zig-zag pattern – another graphic homage to the Norwegian flag, and a guaranteed attention-drawer.

The team’s outfits have a solid group of fans, in particular in social media. A Facebook page entitled ‘The Norwegian Olympic Curling Team’s Pants’ has collected 530,000 likes – more than a tenth of Norway’s population.