Boats, guns and swords: how cumbersome gear gets to Games

After winning gold in Tokyo, American sprint canoeist Nevin Harrison will have a brand-new boat to race in Paris. (Image: Toni L. Sandys/The Washington Post)

The Washington Post

Sun, 21 Jul 2024

By Rick Maese, Bonnie Berkowitz and Jessica KoscielniakFor every athlete, the road to the Olympics is filled with twists, turns and obstacles. But those journeys can be even more complicated for their equipment.While Olympic organisers provide the basic staging and infrastructure for each event, athletes compete with their own gear. It’s highly customised, costly, irreplaceable – and often also large, cumbersome and maddening to transport.While swimmers can shove a Speedo in a back pocket and runners can stash a pair of track spikes...

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