Sports & Politics

U.S. Olympic Uniforms Were Made In China, And Congress Is Pissed

Like our iPhones and Happy Meal toys, the uniforms for American Olympians were made in China. And now American politicians on both sides of the aisle have found something they can agree on: That this is some bullshit.

The congressional reaction was outlined by this article on ESPN.com:

Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nevada):

“I am so upset. I think the Olympic committee should be ashamed of themselves. I think they should be embarrassed. I think they should take all the uniforms, put them in a big pile and burn them and start all over again.”

Sen. John Boehner, (R-Ohio):

“You’d think they know better.”

Rep. Steve Israel, (D-New York):

“Today there are 600,000 vacant manufacturing jobs in this country and the Olympic committee is outsourcing the manufacturing of uniforms to China? That is not just outrageous, it’s just plain dumb. It is self-defeating.”

So it’s not bad enough that these Ralph Lauren-designed uniforms are making us look all French — now we have to find out that they’re being manufactured in China. China! Meanwhile, thousands of Americans are sitting at home, playing Gamecube and smoking clove cigarettes, instead of making these Frenchy uniforms themselves. It’s a disgrace.

Except for two things:

1. This is a drop in the bucket compared to all the shit we import from China. Our trade deficit with the Chinese is at $26 billion, thanks to all the computers and microchips and other assorted nonsense that is way less cheaper to make in Asia, all of which we want to buy. These uniforms, though they are particularly patriotic and it seems doubly/triply/exponentially ironic that they are imported, are just a tiny portion of the problem.

2. Other countries do this too — again, because it’s cheaper. New Zealand’s uniforms were designed in Italy and made in places like Turkey and China. Uniforms for the U.K. are manufactured in Indonesia. It’s a way of life, in this increasingly globalized world, to get your goods abroad.

The U.S. Olympic Committee is privately funded, not publicly. So unless the government wants to start forking over its own cash — excuse me, I mean, unless the government wants to start forking over OUR cash — they need to find the cheapest way to get things done. That’s called doing business. That’s called capitalism. And that’s American. Which makes these uniforms the most patriotic of all.

Photo via

Follow @ericgoldschein