Tale of Nagasu’s tape

Mirai Nagasu’s performance Monday during the Olympics had many viewers exclaiming, “Wow, I can’t believe she hit a triple axel!” The American figure skater also had some wondering, ”Wait, is that a giant ‘USA’ tattoo on her inner thigh?”

Eventually, the mystery was solved: Nagasu was using some Team USAbranded kinesiology tape under her tights. KT Tape, the company that manufactures a product popular with many athletes, sprung into social-media action to let inquiring minds know the story.

It has been a big start to the year for KT Tape, which also received plenty of publicity after millions watched Tom Brady use the product on his injured throwing hand during January’s AFC championship game. Athletes across a variety of sports have used the tape and products like it, including beach volleyball competitors at the 2016 Summer Games in Rio, if only to gain a psychological edge.

Meanwhile, some Winter Olympic athletes are spreading the tape across their faces, all the better to shield themselves from the frigid temperatures in Pyeongchang. “The issue is serious in the Alpine skiing,” Lubomir Soucek, who works with Slovakia’s Olympic team, told the New York

Times recently. “You have to protect your face not to have frozen skin.”