I'm noticing a lot of bright neon yellow running sneakers in London 2012.

I mean, check out this awesomeness with plenty of flourescent yellow.

Are these something commercial or something symbolic?

Ryan Seacrest explains the trend by citing Nike's website:

For Team USA, athletes receiving a special medal are given Nike apparel to wear on the stand. Many have chosen the bright, green shoes to complete their winning look.

Nike explained the outfits on their website claiming, “The world is watching and we want to make sure the athlete looks and feels good in celebration of their achievement.”

Oh, so yellow shoes and green shoes are a fashion statement!

Many of the colorful shoes are from Nike, so there's branding as well.

And colored shoes not limited to Track and Field. Check out the U.S. swimmers...

Missy Franklin, Rebecca Soni, Dana Volmer, and Allison Schmitt:

Michael Phelps, Nathan Adrian, Matthew Grevers, and Brendan Hansen:

2012 Olympics, baby!!

Some other Olympics pages you might enjoy:

• 2012 Olympics: Hot Athletes

• 2012 Olympic Athletes (in The Atlantic)

• "This is for everyone" (opening ceremony / best costumes)

• Find the Olympic athlete with your height and weight

• Missy Franklin (swimming)

• Liang Chow / Gabby Douglas (gymnastics)

• McKayla Maroney vault (Gymnastics)

• Destinee Hooker (Volleyball)

• Wu Mixnia (Diving)

• Kobe Bryant's leopard iPhone

• Victoria Pendleton (cycling)

• Michelle Jenneke NOT in the Olympics

• Australian Synchronised Swimming Team

• Dutch Field Hockey Team

• Leryn Franco (Javelin)

• Jordyn Wieber (gymnastics)

• Anna Chicherova (High Jump)

• Ebba Jungmark (High Jump)

• Ariel Hsing and Lily Zhang (Table Tennis)

• Holley Mangold (Weightlifter)

• Zoe Smith (Weightlifter)

• Samantha Wright (Weightlifter)

• Jenny Fletcher (Triathlete)

• Ali Tetrick (Cyclist)

• Anna Tunnicliffe (Sailing)

• ESPN Bodies We Want

Or read on for more examples of yellow shoes and bright green shoes...

Side note: this page has its own comment thread on Reddit.

been seeing so many brighly-colored shoes too on runners lately. trending?

Nike. Also since they wear team colors often the only visual form of expression is shoes and jewelry.

So Nike pays for distinctive shoes for Olympic athletes?

Or is this part of Livestrong?

Fred, I agree that bright neon running shoes are trending in 2012.

In addition to yellow I have seen bright green and red.

In the world cup, Nike gave all sponsored teams a team shoe. Usually a gaudy and bold color. Nike is savvy; instead of spending millions to sponsor the games, they run exceptional adverts and pay athletes themselves and teams big bucks to wear their gear. Does anyone even known Adidas is an official sponsor of the Olympics?

I wouldn't be surprised if Nike has a "team" shoe or spike for this Olympics. Being on a team sponsored by Nike is like being a kid in a candy store!

I just did some research an people cannot resist shiny things.

So Nike's bright neon shoes stand out and make people take note.

No, I didn't realize that Adidas is an official Olympics sponsor.

So it's true that brand loyalty can trick peoples' tastes using emotion.

Btw some of the green shoes truly are green.

Bless the marketing behind the Nike Airknit Shoes Olympics 2012...

I wonder if they'll sell a lot of Nike FlyKnit at $150/pair.

Jessica Ennis - red shoes

Venus Williams - green shoes

Reese Hoffa - green shoes

Seth Kelsey - yellow shoes

GB Team - red shoes

Celebrities are also rocking the bright neon footwear...

Jessica Biel

Carly Rae Jepsen

Selena Gomez

Naya Rivera from GLEE

This is interesting because research show that you can tell a lot about someone's personality by the shoes they choose. Someone's age, gender, income, and attachment anxiety can be determined at an above chance level just by looking at photographs of their shoes.

Science also has an answer to why high heels are sexy. :)

There's a good deal of research saying the clothing we choose often says something about who we are.

And all colors are not created equal either. Scientific research has shown that:

1) Green can make you more creative.

2) Blondes are better at fundraising and they do have more fun.

3) Countries with lots of colors in their flags are less happy.

4) A yellow price tag makes people think they're getting a discount -- even if they aren't.

5) The color red has all kinds of interesting, athletic, angry, very very sexy and seemingly magic powers.

http://pandawhale.com/convo/5025/olympics-meet-the-man-behind-nikes-neon-shoe-ambush-news-advertising-age

The man behind the yellow shoes is as interesting as the shoes themselves.

This page (and neon kicks!) was mentioned in Beauty and the Street.

They also reference this excellent Slate article.

Available at Nike.