Peking Opera bike helmets worn by China’s Olympics team prove smash hit online

China’s cyclists at the Olympics have some impressive headgear – helmets featuring faces and masks from Chinese Opera.

It makes for an impressive sight as they speed around the velodrome at 70km/h.

China’s gold-medal winning team sprint team Zhong Tianshi and Gong Jinjie were sporting them on their way to victory on Friday, and male sprinter Xu Chao showed off his design on Saturday.

The women’s helmets featured Hua Mulan and Mu Guiying, legendary Chinese female warriors.

Xu’s had the Beijing Opera mask of Zhang Fei, a military general from the Three Kingdoms period.