The Norwegian men’s curling team is known for its loud pants.
Look away now if you get motion sick.
Norway's curling team has unveiled the uniform it will be wearing to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. And the outfits are outrageous. The Norwegians' red, white and blue "chevron" suits are causing quite the stir ahead of the games.
The uniform was among four unique designs revealed at a press event and the team said several more will be brought out throughout the games.
The Norwegian curlers, Christoffer Svae, Torgor Nergard, Havard Vad Petersson and captain Thomas Ulsrud, have been drawing new fans to their sport with their crazy pants. It started at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, where Svae decided he didn't want to wear the traditional black and white uniforms and instead ordered matching golf trousers from the US clothing designer Loudmouth. The sportswear company is known for its flamboyant attire. Golfer John Daly and rock singer Alice Cooper are customers.
Now, they're so popular that the Norwegian curling team's pants have a fan page on Facebook called "The Norwegian Olympic Curling Team's Pants" with more than a half a million likes. The man behind that fan page is Anthony D'Orazio.
"I've heard stories from people who are fans of my page who tried curling because they saw my page," he said.
The Norwegian uniform has sparked media coverage for a sport that doesn't generally create much buzz.
"They've done a lot for the sport in countries, not just the United States, where curling hasn't traditionally been a strong sport," D'Orazio said.
Petersson told The New York Times the pants would be great to win in at Sochi.
“But they’d be terrible to lose in,” he added. “We decided that when we wear them, we have to really try and win and go the whole way.”
The team's coach isn't a fan of the fancy pants. "Put it like this, you'll not see me wearing them," Pal Trulsen told the Associated Press. "Except maybe at a bad-taste party or something."
The curling rink may be their fashion runway but the Norwegian men are dead serious about their sport. They're among the favorites to compete for gold in Sochi.
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