The 2024 Summer Olympics are underway, and it’s been an exciting competition so far! Records have been broken, nails bitten, and commotion stirred. Two athletes have made waves due to their calm demeanor, element of swagger, and their glasses.

Sport-Specific Glasses

Kim Yeji, a shooting athlete from the Republic of Korea, has gone viral for her cool and collected attitude during the 10M pistol shooting competition. As relaxed and casual as she appeared, Kim was all business as she took home the silver medal for the event. Adding to her fierce appearance were a pair of custom shooting glasses, but these glasses do more than increase Kim’s cool factor.

A version of corrective lenses almost exclusively used in sport shooting competitions, shooting glasses use a prescription or colored lens (based on environment and/or preference) on the shooter’s dominant eye to correct any refractive errors or minimize visual noise. The non-dominant eye is covered by a blinder, which is critical for pistol shooters who typically aim at long-distance targets with no magnification. Lexi Lagen, a shooter for the U.S., explained,

“Closing one eye for a couple hours at a time becomes really painful and tedious. Having that little blinder allows us to keep both eyes open but still focus on what we're doing.”

The corrective lens is positioned in front of the dominant eye and maximizes visual acuity so that shooters can focus on three points positioned in three different optical planes at the same time. The other accessories are adjusted depending on the shooter’s posture and preferences.

Well-Recognized Glasses

Stephen Nedoroscik, a gymnast from Team U.S.A., quickly became known as “Pommel Horse Guy” after his stone-cold performance in Paris. A seemingly unthreatening appearance gave way to a fearsome competitor the moment Nedoroscik laid hands on the equipment, but not before removing his glasses. These glasses, which he wears to help correct his strabismus, have become his claim to fame, becoming so recognizable that they were featured in their own post on X (formerly Twitter).

Strabismus is the medical term for “cross-eyed,” which is when the eyes look in different directions. Instead of your eyes’ perspectives coming together to form a single picture, people with strabismus can actually see two different images at the same time. While this sounds like a superpower, it can lead to blurred vision, double vision, and light sensitivity. The majority of people with strabismus have just one eye that turns in, out, up, or down, but for others like Nedoroscik, it can alternate between both eyes.

Strabismus appears in around 2-5% of the population and can be caused by:

• Genetics (runs in families)
• Problems with the muscles and nerves that control the eyes
• An eye injury or other medical condition
• Complication from significant far-sightedness

Luckily, strabismus is a relatively easy eye health issue to correct. Eye exercises, surgery, medications, and patching (covering one eye to strengthen the other) are all options for correcting strabismus. However, for those like Nedoroscik, a pair prescription lenses with the right refraction may be all they need to address it. While he needs his glasses to see, Nedoroscik doesn’t wear his glasses to compete. He said,

“When I go up on the pommel horse, it’s all about feeling the equipment. I don’t even really see when I’m doing my gymnastics. It’s all in the hands—I can feel everything.”

How to Get Olympic Vision

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• Visual acuity
• Contrast sensitivity
• Light sensitivity
• Glare recovery
• Visual range
• Visual processing speed and reaction time

These visual function changes have been demonstrated in numerous clinical studies and at nearly any age, but it takes anywhere from three to six months to notice a difference.

So, there’s no time like the present to start your EyePromise journey towards Olympic vision! Find out which EyePromise eye health supplement is right for you!