From right: German freeskier Benedikt Mayr and speed skater Monique Angermueller hold the German flag as they present the official German Olympic team's outfit for the 2014 Olympic winter games, in Duesseldorf, on Oct. 1, 2013.
The German Olympic team on Tuesday revealed its uniforms for the upcoming winter games in Russia, and many immediately saw them as a swipe at the host country’s anti-gay laws — the bright, rainbow-colored uniforms invoke the rainbow flag of the has become a symbol of the gay rights movement.
But a German Olympic official says it’s just “fashionable.”
Russia has come under fire ahead of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi for its record on gay rights, including a recent law that bans “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations.”
The official description says the German uniforms “were created using colors and materials specially tailored to the conditions in Sochi, Spiegel Online reports.
“This is just a fashionable jacket,” said Michael Vesper, a German Olympic official.
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