Female gymnasts will be allowed to wear SHORTS over their leotards and will no longer be penalized for showing their bra straps in New Zealand, as the country becomes the first to ditch ‘archaic’ rules

New Zealand gymnasts will be allowed to wear shorts or leggings over their leotards and will no longer be penalized for showing their bra straps or having visible underwear.

The sport’s governing body, Gymnastics New Zealand (GNZ), said the changes were made after a survey of competitive gymnasts found the rules were “archaic”.

After receiving more than 200 responses, GNZ found that athletes wanted to “feel comfortable and safe” in the sport.

The new rules only apply to competitions governed in New Zealand, meaning the old rules – governed by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) – will still apply to competitive gymnasts.

“We found the underwear regulations to be unclear, unevenly enforced and, to be honest, a little archaic,” GNZ chief executive Andrea Nelson said in a statement.

“We’re just making sure that wherever you are in the sport, you have a choice. This way, no one feels uncomfortable or excluded.

These require women to wear “a correct non-see-through leotard or sports suit…which must be of an elegant design”.

Female athletes may have between 0.30 and 1.00 points deducted from their final score for dress code violations during individual or team routines.

Athletes have previously voiced concerns over gymnastics attire, with the German team opting to wear full bodysuits at the Tokyo Olympics to combat the sexualisation of women in sport.

Jennifer Pinches, a British gymnast who represented Team GB at the 2012 London Olympics, said the dress rules “perpetuate extremely harmful ideals”.

Speaking in 2021, she added: “It seems ridiculous that we police women’s bodies in particular so much. Why hasn’t this been updated?

Sarah Voss, one of the first German gymnasts to wear a bodysuit, declared in 2023: “It is in this very vulnerable period (puberty) that young girls often decide to stop gymnastics because they do not feel no longer very well in their bodies. ‘

In February, a study by New Zealand-based Massey University found that uniform design may contribute to increased anxiety among female athletes regarding body image concerns, visibility of menstrual blood and visibility of underwear.

Another 2021 Sport New Zealand study of teenage girls found many were dropping out of sport and active recreation because they felt uncomfortable in certain equipment.

Ms Nelson said relaxing some dress regulations could keep girls in the sport and would at least bring the rules for women in line with those for men, who have long been able to wear shorts or pants.

“Gymnastics is a tough enough sport that you don’t have to worry about a deduction because a judge can see your bra strap,” Nelson added.

However, she also stressed that not all female athletes are critical of uniforms, telling Radio New Zealand: ‘We surveyed our competitors across all gymnastics disciplines and found that most girls love wearing a leotard.’

“But there are some gymnasts who just don’t feel comfortable in this outfit.”

The study found that almost 40 per cent of New Zealand sporting bodies believed that decisions about the design of women’s sporting uniforms should primarily rest with athletes.