Cycling skinsuit worn by Bobby Lea during the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games
date: label: used date
content: 2012-08-04 to 2012-08-05
name: label: user
content: Lea, Bobby
label: maker
content: SKINS
notes: label: Description
content: This long sleeve one-piece track cycling skinsuit was worn by American Bobby Lea (b. 1983) when he competed in the Omnium event during the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games. Lea, a national champion in the Omnium and numerous other track cycling events, also competed in the Madison at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and finished 1st in the Scratch Race at the 2012 Pan American Championships
label: Description
content: The jersey and shorts worn by U.S. cyclists at the 2012 Olympics were intended to evoke the designs from the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, where American riders Alexi Grewal and Connie Carpenter both won gold medals in the men’s and women’s cycling road race. The one piece long sleeve skinsuit worn by Lea at the 2012 London Olympics is more aerodynamic than a short sleeve jersey and shorts, but the additional fabric coverage tends to make the wearer overheat. It is best used for either shorter events or instances where the aerodynamic advantages outweigh the drawbacks.
label: Description
content: The event that Lea raced at the 2012 Olympics, called the Omnium, is a cycling event raced on an oval cycling track, also called a velodrome, and was introduced to the Olympics after the Individual Pursuit, Points Race, and Madison were removed as individual Olympic track cycling events in 2009. The Omnium is similar to the Pentathlon in that winning overall relies upon placing well in the combination of six mass-start and individual time trial races that comprise the modern format of the event.
label: Description
content: The six races that comprise the modern Ominum race are:
label: Description
content: 1. Flying Lap (Single lap raced against the clock)
label: Description
content: 2. Points Race (30km men, 20km women, 15km junior men, 10km junior women)
label: Description
content: 3. Elimination Race
label: Description
content: 4. Individual Pursuit (4000m men, 3000m junior men and women, 2000m junior women)
label: Description
content: 5. Scratch Race
label: Description
content: 6. Time Trial (1km men, 500m women)
label: Description
content: The Omnium event at the 2012 Olympics was held at the 250 meter London Velopark on August 4th and 5th. The event was won by Lasse Norman Hansen of Denmark. Lea finished in 12th place overall.
label: Description
content: The 2012 Summer Olympics, also known as the Games of the XXX Olympiad were held in London, England with 204 countries, 5,992 men and 4,776 women athletes participating. With the inclusion of women’s boxing, these Games became the first with female competitors in every sport and the first at which each country entered, had a female representative. Women’s boxing debuted and mixed doubles in tennis was held for the first time since the 1924 Games. American Michael Phelps won his 22nd medal making him the most decorated Olympic athlete of all time. Every athlete to win a medal at these Games was drug tested and as of 2017, 31 medals had been rescinded due to doping. The United States won the medal count with 104.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: referenced; used
content: United Kingdom: England, London
topic: label: level of sport
content: Olympics
label: web subject
content: Sports
label: name of sport
content: Cycling
label: related event
content: Olympic Summer Games: London, 2012
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Sport and Leisure
label: See more items in
content: Bicycling
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2012.0213.02
label: catalog number
content: 2012.0213.02
label: accession number
content: 2012.0213
objectType: label: Object Name
content: cycling skinsuit, summer olympics
label: Object Name
content: cycling skinsuit
label: Object Name
content: cycling skinsuit, olympics
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: synthetic elastic fabric (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: white (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: red (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: blue (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (zipper material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 30 in x 17 1/4 in; 76.2 cm x 43.815 cm