For marketing reasons, sports in both Real Life and in fiction tend to feature quite an expanse of revealed flesh — or flesh not revealed, in artful ways. This trope is where Stripperific meets the sporting arena or other physical, practical activities (such as spaceship uniforms or superspy suits), where audiences are equally likely to tune in for the form-fitting spandex Fanservice outfits and the actual sport or show itself.
This is a justified trope in situations where an outfit providing more coverage or concealment would be impractical in other ways. Sports such as gymnastics fall into the coverage without concealment category, as less form-fitting clothing would be restrictive, distracting, or get caught in the equipment while less coverage would expose the athletes to friction burns. In sports that prioritize the speed of the human body in motion, such as track and field, uniforms tend to provide minimal coverage and are cut to follow natural creases of the human body to avoid restriction and chafing. Conversely, sports that involve speeds high enough to make air resistance a factor such as speedskating tend to minimize the amount of exposed surface area to reduce drag.
