Casual Athletic Nudity

Swimmers like Greg Louganis and Michael Phelps seem so comfortable showing their bodies to the world. Asked about it, athletes usually say something simple like, "that's the uniform."



I never understood this unselfconscious until I started spinning poi. If I leave my shirt on, it will just get sweaty and gross. So I take it off. It's not so much I'm dying to show my fuzzy navel to the world. It's just the uniform.

While poi has made me more confident about my body, an underwear model I ain't. But I'm feeling much less of an all-knees-and-elbows, gangly, awkward nerd these day. Thanks, poi.



At the Olympics, ancient Greeks would perform completely nude. But there was one taboo. It was considered indecent to show the glans of the penis. So to prevent it from accidentally slipping out, athletes would tie a kynodesme, a small string, around their foreskins, ensuring it would stay inside.