An editor I know was lucky enough to be in Paris for the start of the Summer Olympic Games. She watched beach volleyball played beneath the Eiffel Tower, scored tickets to tennis matches at the same stadium where the French Open is held, and generally said the entire experience unlocked her inner sports girlie. Her only true lament was that the official merch for the Games left something to be desired.
After scrolling through the offerings online, I can see what she means. When you’re waking up at 5 a.m. to sit on the edge of your couch screaming at your screen, willing Simone Biles to stick the landing on a vault you yourself could never attempt in your wildest dreams, you want to be wearing an oversized tee emblazoned with her gold-medal smile sucking down coffee from a mug that has the same—not a hoodie that just has “Paris 2024” printed across the chest.
Fortunately, the indie makers on Etsy get it, and a cottage industry of cool, “unofficial” merch dedicated to the many star female athletes on Team USA (who are dominating the nation’s medal count and shining bright in the City of Light) has popped up on the site over the past few weeks. Think: vintage-style band tees, stickers, push pins, posters, and more. And while the Paris Games will be over on August 11, you’re gonna want to hold on to this merch much longer: Most (if not all) of the athletes below will grace your screens again and again over the next few years, from World Championships rugby games and gymnastics events to the 2028 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles, where they’ll have a chance to go for gold in front of a home crowd.
Sha’Carri Richardson
The US women’s track-and-field sprinters have a history of being as well-known for their PRs as they are for their personal styles. It dates back to the heyday of Florence Griffith Joyner, who set the still-unbroken records for the women’s 100m and 200m in 1988.
Like Flo-Jo, Sha’Carri Richardson is known for sporting long hair and longer nails (not to mention her reputation as the current fastest woman in the world). After winning her first Olympic medal over the weekend—a silver in the women’s 100m dash—Richardson still has one more chance to go for gold in the women’s 4x100m relay later this week.
The Golden Girls
It’s a long-standing tradition of the US women’s gymnastics team to come up with a nickname for themselves heading into Olympic competitions, and this year was no exception. After winning their fourth consecutive gold medal in the team competition on July 30, Simone Biles revealed a funny (albeit NSFW) moniker in a post-victory press conference—later, she posted on social media that the “official team name is ‘Golden Girls’” because, as Biles added, this year’s group is the oldest in US Olympic history.
Ilona Maher
Team USA Rugby center Ilona Maher proved to be one of the earliest breakout stars of the Paris Olympic Games when she helped her team secure its first-ever Olympic medal in the sport—a bronze that came as the result of an electrifying final match against Australia on July 30. Proving that her catchphrase, “beast, beauty, brains,” is more than a tagline, Maher has opened up her official merch shop, where you can find tees, tanks, coffee mugs, and even candles sporting her likeness. The only thing it’s missing? Tubes of her signature red lipstick.
Simone Biles
In what will surely be one of the cutest moments to come out of the Olympic Games this summer, Maher let her TikTok followers (and the world) in on a little-known tradition between Olympic athletes last week: swapping custom-made pins. She shared a video of Biles, who became the most decorated Olympic gymnast in history at the Paris Games, bringing her the sentimental souvenir on August 1. While neither Maher nor Biles are currently selling their custom pins to fans, you can still get in on the trend with a lapel pin designed in Biles’s likeness.
Trinity Rodman
Like her famous father (former NBA forward Dennis Rodman), Trinity Rodman is quickly becoming known for her colorful hairstyles and near-superhuman athletic abilities. A star striker, Rodman already has three goals in Paris. Fans will be looking out for her signature pink braids as well as her “Trin Spin” when she takes the pitch with the rest of the US women’s soccer team on August 6 in their semifinal match against Germany.
Katie Ledecky
Watching Katie Ledecky finish the 1500m freestyle race leagues ahead of the rest of the field on July 31 is a moment that will go down in history. Not only did she become the most decorated female Olympic swimmer when she touched the wall, but she also set a new Olympic record. Four days later, she went on to win her fourth consecutive gold medal in the women’s 800m free.