Nike’s USATF Olympic uniforms feature new Nike Swift materials, reducing weight to achieve less drag and faster times, and also include Nike Aerographics and the “We the People” graphic. With seven percent less drag than the Athens version, wearing the new Nike Swift Suit translates to a benefit of about .02 of a second in the 100m.
The Nike Swift System of Dress lets athletes customize what they’re wearing while increasing aerodynamic advantages on key parts of the body. Gloves, socks and arm coverings—an entire system of dress—were developed by Nike so sprinters could run faster. For example, the Nike Swift Suit gloves have dimpled fabrics like a golf ball to cut wind resistance and allow arms to slice through the air faster. In testing, the design team found that compared with bare skin, the sleeves reduce drag by 19 percent and the socks by 12.5 percent.