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On August 1, shot putter Chase Jackson, took to her Instagram Story to share a picture of the upper half of her face and claimed that she had been struggling to find uniforms that fit her at the ongoing 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.
“When you spend your first hour in Paris crying ‘cause they didn’t give you anything in your size,” thelOlympian wrote.
In the wake of this, fans of Chase Jackson called out Ralph Lauren, the official designer for Team USA at the Olympics alongside Skims, the lingerie partner for the Games.
While Nike initially also faced backlash, the shot putter eventually shared another story showing off her merchandise from the athletic footwear brand and captioned it, “At least @nike takes care of me, right?”
In the hours following the controversy, Chase Jackson removed her original Instagram Stories and later issued a clarification on the same platform, claiming that all brands had her size, but it “just wasn’t given to me originally, but I have it now.” She also explained how a “logistics” issue led to the miscommunication and assured her fans that everything was “good.”
Exploring Chase Jackson’s latest statement on the Olympics uniform controversy
Chase Jackson recently addressed the controversy that Ralph Lauren and Skims did not have uniforms in her size at the ongoing Paris Olympics. She took to her Instagram Story and cleared the air.
She began by acknowledging the “support” of her fans and everyone who helped her with the “kit stuff” after her initial disappointment.
“Arriving and seeing wrong sizes was obviously pretty upsetting but my team here have been amazing in fixing it. The USATF/ Team USA/ Nike guys really came through yesterday and got everything swapped for me,” Chase Jackson wrote.
She further continued by explaining why the issue happened in the first place.
“Turns out there was an admin error on the system that recorded all of my sizes incorrectly for all of the different brands. Just to be clear, all brands do have my size… There was no exclusion or anything, just a super unfortunate logistics nightmare,” the shot put champion added.
Chase Jackson also mentioned that although she originally did not have the uniform, it eventually appeared. In a follow-up Story, she explained why she was “upset” before.
“It’s happened before where I’ve not been included and it’s hurtful. I’m so thankful that it’s not the case here and it was an honest mistake,” Chase wrote.
The Illinois native wrapped up by saying how she was “happy” to talk more about the issue or similar kinds of stuff in general, but only after she was done competing at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
For those unaware, Chase Jackson became the first American woman to win an international title in shot put after she won gold at the World Athletics Championship in 2022, by covering a distance of 20.49 meters at the event. It was her first attempt at the tournament.
This is the first time Chase Jackson is competing at the Olympics, after having missed her chances at the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Games.
In brief, looking at Team USA’s uniform at Olympics 2024
For the Olympics opening ceremony that took place on July 26, Team USA wore formal navy blue jackets with red and white embroidery, designed by Ralph Lauren. It had the company logo on one side and the American flag and Olympic insignia on the other. The jacket was worn on top of a beach royal white oxford shirt and faded blue jeans.
For the August 11 closing ceremony, Olympians from Team USA will don a white blazer with red and navy blue stripes in the center and the American flag appearing on the right sleeve. It will be paired with a white polo shirt and jeans.
As for the Olympics Village wear, they comprise 100 percent recycled cotton polo shirts, varsity jackets, rugby shirts, and American flag sweaters.
According to the Ralph Lauren website, this year’s Olympics uniform collection is a tribute to the French culture as well as the team’s American roots. The company has been designing clothes for Team USA since the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
