Jazz Inspires U.S. Olympic Skateboard Team Uniforms

By DownBeat I Aug. 7, 2024

The U.S. Olympic Skateboard Team’s shirts feature an image of a flying eagle playing a saxophnone.
(Photo: Courtesy Nike)

Checking out the Olympics? Be sure to notice the U.S. Olympic Skateboard Team’s uniforms. They include an image of a flying eagle, of course, playing a saxophone. What?

Sounds crazy, but the team uniforms were designed, according to Nike SB, to combine “iconic American symbols — the rose, the eagle, red and white stripes.” But the saxophone-playing eagle is meant to capture the “almost jazz-like nature of skateboarding.”

“Unlike other ‘sports,’ the culture of skateboarding has overlapped with music and art from the very beginning,” according to Nike SB’s website. “So much of skateboarding is about being ‘in and of the moment.’ It is pure frenzy, energy — a response to every surface, texture and minute crack in the city. The flashes of blue coming from the saxophone out across the blaze of fire symbolize this creative, ‘in the moment,’ energy so particular to skateboarding.”

Keep improvising, skateboarders, and good luck! DB