Olympic Glasses Fashion

The summer Olympics is perpetually one of my favorite sporting events, but this year I have had the extra dorky distraction of paying heed to all of the great glasses on display!  Olympians have access to the best equipment on the market, and their sports glasses are no exception.  Remember, for FDA regulations, glasses for sports must meet specific safety standards in material thickness and resistance to shatter.  Safety glasses are a great idea for anyone competing in sports with a high danger of eye injury (think small balls or projectiles flying towards the face).  For an athlete at high risk for a retinal detachment due to eye injury, safety goggles become essential in protecting the eye from possible blindness.  Numerous athletes competing are protecting their eyes with these glasses:

Tony Parker: Basketball Player for France
He is wearing protective glasses due to an eye injury suffered prior to the Olympics.  Apparently shattered glass penetrated his left eye.  Due to the sensitivity of the cornea to injury, protecting the eye from stray fingernails while playing basketball is of utmost importance.

Foluke Akinradewo: USA Indoor Volleyball

Volleyball is a high impact sport, especially for players whose skill set puts them blocking by the net.  The force of a volleyball smacking against the globe of the eye is enough to cause a retinal detachment or major globe injury.

photo via washingtonpost.com

Misty May-Treanor: USA Beach Volleyball

Beach volleyball has the added element of outdoor sun exposure, so glasses are both protective for eye injuries and UV radiation for these athletes.  Anyone playing an outdoor sport should consider sunglasses due to the permanent damage UV radiation causes for longterm vision.  Macular degeneration, cataracts, conjunctival growths like pterygium: all of these conditions are induced by UV-A and UV-B sun exposure.

Kevin Durant: USA Basketball

And if you just want to wear glasses for fashion, look no further than Olympian Kevin Durant who has absolutely perfected the NBA glasses trend.  I didn't love the outfit for the Parade of Nations, but those glasses looked great.

Durant (right) with fellow NBA players via