Jersey swapping has long been a part of the fabric of sports. It’s a nice sign of respect after a hard-fought contest.
So, when two Olympic rugby sevens players opted to swap shorts after their contest on Saturday, it, uh, got some attention!
That's Stephen Tomasin of the United States on the left and Rodrigo Isgro of Argentina on the right. Argentina had just knocked out the U.S., 19-0, in the rugby sevens 7-8 classification match, but that wasn't going to get in the way of some good, old-fashioned postgame sportsmanship.
So, why the shorts? We at NBCOlympics.com went straight to the source.
Per a rep for USA Rugby, Tomasin simply wanted to keep his Olympic-worn jerseys as a memento, but he still wanted to do a traditional kit swap with the other team. So, to Tomasin, the shorts were the next logical option.
Unlike what some fans had speculated on social media, there are no kit-trading restrictions by USA Rugby and no cost tracking associated with the tradition.
We love a creative solution.