The Olympic Games in Paris have provided many fashion moments. The latest comes at a micro level. Competitors, chiefly in gymnastics and athletics, are making nails a big part of their look.

Sha’Carri Richardson is the pioneer here. Her statement nails have long been part of her style. For the 100-metre heats on Friday, her nails were pointed, jewelled and brightly patterned. They were decorated with the US flag for the opening ceremony last weekend.

The gymnasts Sunisa Lee and Jordan Chiles both have long nails – Chiles decorating hers with jewels and vivid colours. Shot putter Raven Saunders has talons decorated with the Olympic rings. Noah Lyles, the US track and field star, has “icon’” spelt out across his. To continue the trend, there’s even a nail salon in the Olympic Village.

Sportspeople have traditionally kept their on-field style minimal in a bid to focus on optimum performance, so the nails here have raised eyebrows. However, Dr Danielle Adams Norenberg, the head of psychology at the UK Sports Institute, who works with Team GB, says they can actually give an edge: “I’m all for helping [athletes] figure out how they’re going to express themselves through their performance in a way that enhances their strengths and supports their methods.”

Over a career that began in the late noughties, the US hurdler Queen Harrison Claye became known for her style, which featured long nails, elaborate hairstyles and even blue lipstick. She says it helped her perform – precisely because she was thinking about her look. “For some people that sounds crazy or distracted but in reality, it was a way for me to be focused on what I’ve been training in, and not overthink it,” she says.

Isabelle Knevett, the fashion features editor of Women’s Health, says this is something all female fitness fans can identify with: “Everybody can relate to the experience of putting on a new pair of trainers or maybe a new set, and then you go to the gym and you lift a bit harder or you run a bit faster. It’s that feeling.”

Norenberg dismisses any idea that these nails will be difficult to perform in. “The athletes and the coaches themselves are considering their equipment to the absolute nth degree and they would not be taking a risk that would compromise their performance in that respect,” she says. “It wouldn’t even be a consideration at this level.”

Sophia Kinaya Haug, a nail artist who has worked with Richardson and Saunders, says Richardson is “setting a new standard, saying you can express yourself and be bougie and beautiful on the track”. However, there are some stipulations. “She did ask me to make [her nails] a little shorter because it was harder for her to tie her shoelaces,” says Haug. “She knows her max.”

The majority of athletes exploring experimental hair and beauty at the Olympics are Black – nails like this have been part of Black culture since the 80s. “Black women take care of themselves and do the nails, all the hairstyles, the long lashes, all of it,” says Huag. “[Richardson] is bringing that to the track.” In an interview with Elle in June, the athlete explained her nails were inspired by those of her mother, aunt and grandmother.

Black athletes are often judged more harshly for their looks. Simone Biles, who became the most decorated American gymnast ever this week, was criticised on social media for what some saw as a “messy” bun. She swiftly spoke out on Instagram, posting a selfie with the comment: “Gonna hold your hand when I say this 💋Next time you wanna comment on a black girls hair. JUST DON’T.”

Claye says the visibility of Black style on an international stage is powerful. She was inspired by Florence Griffith Joyner, known as Flo-Jo, who had long nails, as well as Serena Williams. “As a young Black girl, who’s familiar with the click-clackity of the beads [in hairstyles], when [I saw that] in a mainstream light, especially in a sport that I didn’t see representation of me or people that look like me, it was gamechanger.”