Flaunt it: German beach volleyballer Katrin Holtwick at a practice session on Horse Guards Parade with Kinesio tape on her stomach 

Style statement: Katrin Holtwick with Kinesio tape

In the pink: Czech Republic pole vaulter Jirina Ptacnikova

Patriot tape: Team GB 100 metres sprinter Dwain Chambers

Taped up: Team GB diver Tom Daley

Kinesio tape is a heavily adhesive, hypoallergenic, stretchy tape designed to support injured joints and muscles

t has been worn by some of the world’s most famous athletes, including Serena Williams and David Beckham. It can fit any shape of body and be worn on any limb.

So what is this coveted fashion item? No, nothing by Stella McCartney and Adidas, but some brightly coloured injury strapping tape — and as the Olympics kick off, it’s what just about every athlete in town is wearing.

It’s called Kinesio taping — a heavily adhesive, hypoallergenic, stretchy tape designed to be close to the thickness and weight of skin that can be fixed to an athlete’s body and stay put for up to five days. The idea is that it can support injured joints and muscles and help relieve pain by lifting the skin and improving blood flow but without restricting movement.

Although it was actually invented in the Seventies, Kinesio tape was only noticed by the general public after US beach volleyball athlete Kerri Walsh competed in Beijing with lines of black tape on her shoulder. It was no coincidence, since Kinesio donated 50,000 rolls to 58 different countries for the 2008 Games.

After Beijing, sales went up 300 per cent. Several companies now make it and Team GB has physios trained up in how to use it.

For 2012, the Japanese inventor of Kinesio tape, Dr Kenzo Kase, is heading here himself with a team of staff who will have access to the training centres.

Yet despite athletes’ and their physiotherapists’ enthusiasm for the tape, there is limited evidence of its efficacy. Research is still ongoing, with recently published studies into its beneficial effects only reporting “trivial findings”.

But if nothing else, the tape is certainly a fashion statement. Available in almost any colour, Team GB 100m sprint athlete Dwain Chambers even managed to get some with a Union Jack pattern that he wore on his leg at the European Athletics Championships in Helsinki this month.

But there is one colour that will stand out on the athletes’ bodies this year. Kinesio has handed out 6,000ft of its latest shade to athletes and given 200 pre-cut pieces to the US Olympic Committee for London 2012. The colour? A hopeful gold.

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