Japanese Olympic athletes will wear clothing designed to block infrared cameras.

At the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics world Athletes from Japan’s volleyball, track and field and other teams will compete wearing suits made from a new fabric that can better absorb infrared radiation, the report said. Similar to stealth aircraft that avoid detection by deflecting radar signals away from detectors, this fabric absorbs infrared radiation, preventing it from reaching cameras and infrared sensors.

Some devices have unintentionally demonstrated how infrared detection, used in night vision and thermal cameras, can reveal the invisible. An example is the “Photochrom” color filter on the OnePlus 8 Pro, which works like X-ray perspective on the Apple TV’s thin shell. When used on people, infrared photography can show the lines of a person’s body or underwear worn under thin clothing, such as those worn by athletes.

In 2020, athletes complained to the Japanese Olympic Committee after discovering infrared cameras had been used and “photos of themselves shared on social media with sexually explicit captions.” Japan Times. Since then, Mizuno, Sumitomo Metal Mining, and Kyodo Printing have jointly developed a new fabric that protects athletes while being stretchy enough to be used in sportswear.

In experiments shared by Mizuno, the black “C” printed underneath a layer of “game uniform fabric” and the new infrared-absorbing fabric were almost completely obscured when photographed with an infrared camera. Multiple layers of new light-absorbing fabric will help further, but with athletes already expressing concerns about the extreme heat expected at the upcoming Paris Olympics, the uniforms will protect against invasive creep while also keeping participants cool. You have to strike a balance between doing this and staying comfortable.