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The Best Olympics Halloween Costumes for 2012

Her Campus Placeholder Avatar Sora Hwang

The biggest names from the 2012 London Olympic Games are recognizable by practically anyone in the U.S., whether or not they are avid fans of the sport. That’s why some of the Olympic athletes are the best ideas for costumes this Halloween. Her Campus has provided different ways you can channel your inner Olympian. Find your favorite athlete and show some U.S. pride!

Depending on your budget, you can get the official gear at Team USA’s online store or use our tips to make your own. Happy training, collegiettes!

Groups

Gymnastics: Fierce Five

  • Red leo, $32.00
  • Rhinestones (optional)
  • Pair of blue sweatpants lying around the house
  • Red scrunchie
  • Gold medal

Grab a group of four other friends and assign each girl a member of the Fierce Five – Aly Raisman, Gabrielle Douglas, Jordyn Wieber, McKayla Maroney and Kyla Ross. (Hint: Whoever can do Maroney’s unimpressed face the best is automatically Maroney without a doubt.) Use a red bodysuit from American Apparel as the leo and if you’re feeling extra artsy, rhinestone a small “USA” onto the front. To save some cash, wear a plain, tight red shirt that can be tucked into the sweatpants as if it were a leo. The sweatpants are for those in colder regions. If you have the leo and want to go sans sweatpants, go ahead!

Pull your hair back into messy buns or neat ponytails with the red scrunchies. Make your own gold medals with yellow construction paper and spare lanyards because these are a crucial part to the Fierce Five. Since their win, these medals have made as many appearances as the girls have. With those medals around your neck, strike your best gymnast’s pose and you’re ready to go!

Track & Field: 4×100-Meter Women’s Relay Team

If you’re confident enough to bare your abs, recreate the record-shattering 4×100-meter women’s relay team of Carmelita Jeter, Allyson Felix, Tianna Madison and Bianca Knight. Because the team gear is pricy, you can make your own with a red sports bra and red spandex shorts from a local sporting goods store. Carry the baton around throughout the night and switch it from one friend to the next at different portions of the night.

To complete the outfit, remember to print out hip numbers and safety pin them onto your shorts and top. Slip into those running shoes and you’re good to go! The best part about this is that each runner has her own style, so you and your friends can make your own hairstyles or add any details from personal preference.
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Duos

Volleyball: Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings

  • USA Beach Volleyball Bikini Top, $29.99 
  • USA Beach Volleyball Bikini Bottom, $29.99
  • Volleyball [optional]
  • Sunglasses
  • Three gold medals each

It’s completely normal to wish you were Misty May-Treanor or Kerri Walsh Jennings, or to at least have a fraction of the success they have had throughout three Olympic cycles (or, let’s admit it, their bodies). This Halloween, let those dreams come true by teaming up with your best friend for a one-time special as the beach volleyball stars.

You can create these costumes by either getting USA’s bikini top and bottoms, specifically made for beach volleyball players to prevent moving and exposing too much from all the diving in the sand, at the USA Beach Volleyball Store, or simply wearing a normal bikini that is either red, white or blue. To still give off the impression that you are beach volleyball players for the night, try to stay away from the stringed bikinis and go for something sturdier. Bump a volleyball to each other throughout the night while fixing your sunglasses every so often (although you can ditch those for the night, if you wish). Take it a step further and create your own hand signals to communicate silently about boys and other partygoers while out. Just remember you can’t forget about the three gold medals each! Jennings didn’t convince May-Treanor to join her for another Olympics for nothing.

Tennis: Venus and Serena Williams

These sisters have dominated women’s doubles in the Olympics since 2000. If you and your best friend are tennis fiends, they’re the perfect pair for you to imitate this October. To DIY, wear a sporty white tank and pair it with a pleated navy blue skirt to match the Williams sisters’ outfits in London this past summer. Serena Williams sported red terry cloth wristbands and headband during their final match, so if you want a distinguishing factor, throw this into your costume.

To signify your accomplishments, make four gold medals for each of you from construction paper and lanyards. Although these are their gold medals as a team, they also each have three gold medals in singles. (It’s crazy!) If you decide to include this, go ahead and make three more for each of you. Grab a tennis racquet and head out for the night as the accomplished Williams sisters.

Gymnastics: Aly Raisman’s Parents – Lynn and Rick Raisman

If you haven’t seen a single video of Aly Raisman’s parents reacting to her uneven bar routine on the first night of competition, we’re not exactly sure where you’ve been all summer. Still, once you watch this video, we wouldn’t be surprised if the first thing you did was grab your boyfriend or closest guy friend to dress up as these hilarious parents. You can purchase their exact polos from Ralph Lauren or wear similar blue and red polos that you may already have sitting in your drawers.

Channel your patriotism through red jeans for Lynn Raisman and blue jeans for Rick Raisman. We give you tremendous props if you react the same way as the Raismans throughout the night to random, spontaneous events. These two have a fairly simple costume, but people will love you for reminding them of the viral video from the Olympics.
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Flying Solo

Swimming: Missy Franklin or Rebecca Soni

Take your pick of Missy Franklin, Rebecca Soni or any of the star female swimmers if swimming is your favorite sport of the Summer Games! Instead of purchasing this specialized one-piece bathing suit and flag cap, you can wear any of your own personal one-pieces. As long as you’re sporting U.S.’s colors, becoming any of the swimmers is fairly easy.

Depending on who you choose to be, go ahead and make yourself as many medals – gold, silver or bronze – as required. Seeing as how successful our women’s team was this Olympics, you will definitely be making multiple medals. We’ve marked the sweatpants as optional for the costume. It’s your choice, depending on how cold it will get on Halloween and how comfortable you are in just a one-piece. We recommend at least throwing on a pair of shorts.

Soccer: Hope Solo

This Halloween, dress up as a member of the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team, but not just any member – Hope Solo. You can purchase her goalkeeper’s jersey or save some money by getting creative with your closet. If you want to match Solo’s jerseys in London, don’t worry if you don’t have a certain color. Solo wore different colors at each match ranging from yellow to green. If you already own a sporty ¾-sleeved shirt, make sure you can match it with the same colored shorts. Another alternative is to just wear a long-sleeved (or ¾-sleeved) loose-fitting shirt with matching basketball shorts.

Slip into cleats, hang two gold medals around your neck, keep a soccer ball under your arm, and you’re now Hope Solo!

Flying Solo – Collegent Edition

Whether you’re a collegent or you’re a collegiette looking for ideas for a collegent you know, two obvious Olympians are Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps. Since they are both swimmers, they have similar costumes with slight individual additions to distinguish between the two.

To commemorate Phelps’s record number of total Olympic medals, just make as many medals as you can if you don’t want to meet the total of 22. As for Ryan, we feel his infamous grillz seal the costume together. Make your own set of grillz by following this how-to guide.

By following any of these tips, you can either buy or create your own Olympic costumes. Finally reach your dreams as a child this Halloween by embracing your inner athlete and becoming your favorite Olympian. Which Olympian are you planning on dressing up as this year? We want to know!

Calling All Collegiettes: Send us your best Halloween costume photos at PR@hercampus.com or tweet them to us at @HerCampus with #HCHalloween to be included in our Halloween slideshow! 

Photo Credits:
Matt Dunham/AP Photo
Adam Pretty/Getty Images
Michael Sohn/AP Photo

Her Campus Placeholder Avatar
Sora Hwang

Northeastern

Sora Hwang, originally from New Jersey, is a journalism major at Northeastern University. On campus, she is involved in the Student Government Association, Northeastern University Figure Skating Club, Haute Fashion (as an editor) and Her Campus Northeastern (as secretary). In any spare time she can manage, she edits pieces for Pink & Black Magazine as its Life Editor and for Mochi Magazine as its Associate Managing Editor. Over summer 2012, she studied documentary filmmaking in Rome and hopes to expand her knowledge in video editing and production. In addition, she loves playing with her puppies, curling up with hot chocolate, and annoying her friends with her indecisiveness.