Ever Wonder How Gymnasts Avoid Getting Wedgies? Me Neither, But Here's The Answer

One of my favorite things about the Olympics is that a lot of us spend two weeks learning about and obsessing over sports we only watch every four years, and that means we usually have a lot of questions.

Some enterprising reporters working for the Today Show's website set out to answer some of these including one that never crossed my mind until I saw their article: how do gymnasts avoid getting a wedgie with the entire world watching?

I never really thought about this, but it's a good question. I mean, one ride down a water slide will bunch up a swimsuit in the Valley of the Cheeks without hesitation, so with all of that flipping, vaulting, and balance beam-ing how do they steer clear of Wedgevile?!

Well, lucky for us, Today.com's Rheana Murray and Alex Portée joined forces to give us an answer.

Italy's Alice D'Amato of Italy performs her floor routine during the 2024 Olympics in Paris, which have remained wedgie-less thanks to some technological advancements introduced into the sport over the years. (Photo by Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)

Gymnasts Have A Secret Wedgie-Fighting Weapon

Now, I would've assumed that it all comes down to making sure the get-up fits properly, and that's part of it, but there's also a 2016 People interview with former Olympian Nastia Liukin in which she said that some competitors use a spray called Tuf-Skin to keep everything right where it's supposed to be.

Tuf-Skin is meant to help with tape application but I'm sure the folks making it will be proud to learn that it's keeping Olympic leotards from wedgie-ing on the biggest stage.

The other thing I learned from this is that this isn't used to ward off the potential embarrassment that could come with an ill-timed wedge, it's also to make sure you scrape together every single one of those sweet, sweet points.

According to the Today piece, picking a wedge is a deduction, which is wild. Imagine someone sticking the most incredible vault anyone has ever seen (I'm not sure what that would entail. All the vaults look pretty much the same to me; lots of flipping and spinning), but after landing they readjust their garments and it costs them gold.

That's insane, and we'd all hate to see Olympic glory hinge on a wedgie, so thank god for these friction-creating sprays.