By Caroline Radnofsky - NBC News
The Norwegian women's beach handball team has been fined for refusing to play in bikini bottoms during a match at Euro 2021.
In their match against Spain on Sunday in Bulgaria to fight for the bronze, the players wore thigh-high stretch shorts to protest against the regulatory design of the lower part of the outfit.
The president of the Norwegian beach handball federation called the kit "embarrassing".
The team was fined 1,500 euros (about $ 1,700) for "inappropriate clothing," according to a statement from the Disciplinary Commission of the European Handball Association.
Male players may play in tank tops and shorts that do not exceed four inches (10 centimeters) above the knee, women must wear tops that reveal the belly and bikinis "with a slim fit and upward angle. towards the upper part of the leg "and with a maximum lateral width of four inches, according to the regulations of the International Handball Federation.
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"It is not [appropriate clothing for] the activity when they are playing in the arena," Norwegian Handball Federation president Kåre Geir Lio told NBC News, sister network of Noticias Telemundo, by phone from Oslo.
The women's team trains and competes with "what they want, like the boys" in Norway, but are subject to the International Handball Federation dress code when playing abroad, Lio said.
The players had requested to wear training shorts from the beginning of the tournament, he explained, but the federation threatened them with a fine or disqualification.
"It was very spontaneous. We thought, 'Let's do it now, and then we'll see what happens,'" player Katinka Haltvik told Norwegian broadcaster NRK.
The president of the Norwegian federation received a message 10 minutes before the game in which they informed him that they would wear the shorts.
"They received our full support," he said.
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"This is completely ridiculous! How many changes of attitude are necessary in the antiquated international patriarchy of sport?", Said the Norwegian Minister of Culture on the social network Twitter.
Norway has been campaigning since 2006 for shorts to be officially accepted in women's beach handball and will present a motion to change the rules at an extraordinary congress of the international federation in November, Lio said.
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Haltvik hopes this will make the sport more inclusive.
"It shouldn't be the case that people don't want to participate because of the dress," he told NRK in April.
Efforts to regulate women's official clothing in other beach sports have been controversial.
The initial proposal by the Qatar Volleyball Association to ban players from wearing bikinis during an international tournament hosted by the country this year was met with threats of boycott from some players.
The International Volleyball Federation updated its own rules in 2012. At the Tokyo Olympics, beach volleyball players can choose to play in shorts and T-shirts, as well as in bikinis or one-piece swimsuits.
