Gotta gold fast!
Michael Johnson wore a pair of custom-made golden Nike running shoes at at the 1996 Olympics Games in Atlanta. It was certainly a risk but it paid off in the end as he won gold medals in both the 400 and 200 metre sprints, setting a new Olympic record in the former and a new world record in the latter.
The shoes were made of zytel, carbon graphite, and aluminum to ensure they were both lightweight but also hard wearing. They were also asymmetrical with mismatched soles and Johnson was filmed as part of the engineering process to ensure they got everything right.
They went up for auction as part of a special Olympics collection in 2021 (if anyone knows how much they sold for, let me know!)