Photo gallery: The look of women's prelims

Croatia's Tina Erceg made the definitive fashion statement of women's qualifying at the 2009 World Gymnastics Championships with her "suit" leotard, which featured a white collar and cuffs and eye-ctaching purple tie. AP Photo/Matt Dunham

Forget the gymnastics for a second -- what do you wear to compete at a World Championship? A leotard, obviosuly, but after that, almost anything goes.

For Wednesday's women's preliminary round, most of the powerhouse countries stuck to traditional leotards that had already been worn in major competitions. The U.S. women, for example, opted to sport the red and white leotards worn during the (somewhat disappointing for them) team finals at the 2008 Olympics.

There were other flashes of style and expression, including from Russia, whose athletes appeared in girly sleeveless creations in pink and purple and black.

European vault champion Ariella Kaslin of Switzerland competed in a black leo with sparkling mesh sleeves and a blue and gold butterfly on the side.

This is an individual World Championship, so perhaps its not surprising that not all gymnasts from the same country appeared in the same leotards. Romanians Gabriela Dragoi and Anamaria Tamarjan, who competed in different sessions during qualifying, chose different red-yellow-blue looks (Tamirjan's was also used by the French team during the last quad). So did Deng Linlin and Yang Yilin, who each had a different variation of the typical Chinese look: a red leotard with yellow accents.

The definitive fashion statement of women's qualifying came from Croatia's Tina Erceg, who competed in a "suit" leotard complete with high white collar and flared cuffs, accented by a bright purple tie. Now that's a fashion statement. Love it or hate it, you have to give Erceg high scores for her daring.