Industry news

The off-field Olympics

The Olympic year has been synonymous with world records as athletes drive themselves in a relentless pursuit of excellence and gold, and it has been strongly associated with new releases as brands endeavour to create global awareness of their new, revolutionary products.

Some of these product innovations have not met with universal approval. The Italians, for example, are not impressed with the latest developments in bodysuits. The Italian Swimming Federation wants to ban all new generation technology suits (including Speedo’s LZR and TYR’s Tracer Rise) from youth and beginner’s competition. They’re simply too good, say the federation.

FINA convened a special meeting recently to address protests raised by Arena over the TYR Tracer Rise and Speedo LZR Racer Suits, requesting they be banned from future competitions due to their alleged performance advantages. FINA upheld their previous ruling on Tracer Rise as well as the Speedo LZR Racer, namely, that they offer accepted and certified technology.

Athletes are allowed to choose their own technological equipment, but must wear the clothing from the official teamwear supplier.

This has also resulted in conflicts between the bodysuit manufacturers and some national federations, who insist that swimmers must wear the sponsors’ teamwear.

This becomes more problematic when the swimming team sponsor is not the national teamwear sponsor. For example, US swim coach Mark Schubert insisted team members swim in Speedo, although the Olympic teamwear sponsor is Nike.

This resulted in TYR Sport filing a legal action with the US District Court citing unlawful restraint of trade and an attempt to monopolise the competitive swimwear marketplace against Warnaco Swimwear (Speedo US), US Swimming and the US swimming coach Mark Schubert.

In SA, brands are also in discussion with SASCOC regarding their ruling that swimmers must wear Arena swim- and body-suits. Arena sponsors Swimming SA.

Speedo celebrated their 80th birthday in style in April at the ninth FINA World Swimming Championships in Manchester, where 132 medals were won and 17 world records were broken by swimmers wearing Speedo, 13 of them in the new Speedo LZR Racer swimsuit.

That brought the total number of world records broken in the Speedo LZR Racer suit to 35 (correct on 16th April 2008) since the suit was launched in February 2008.

According to Speedo co-president, David Robinson, 78% of the medals at the recent World Championships were won by swimmers in Speedo and 35 world records were broken in less than eight weeks.

The introduction of the TYR Tracer Rise technology has also seen an improvement of between 2–4 % in the performance of swimmers using this suit, says Steve Furniss, CEO of TYR. Tracer technology has seen the breaking of one world record, four American records, two European records, two French national records, the world’s second fastest time in the 200m fly, three gold medals, two silver medals and one bronze medal at the world championship.

New footwear developed

The Olympic years usually inspire innovative new footwear and clothing aimed at making athletes perform faster, stronger, higher and more gracefully.

Nike recently launched their new Olympic footwear (in some cases in the nick of time) to the international press at the Nike Beijing Innovation Summit. They have developed a sport-specific shoe for every conceivable sporting code. Even those that usually go barefoot. Minimalist gets a new meaning with some footwear styles that barely cover the most important foot contact points.

The smallest of their small shoes is the Pidima (Greek for leap), designed for use by gymnasts in the vault competition. It looks like a rubber-spiked pouch that covers the toes and ball of the foot, with the rest of the foot unencumbered. The rubber traction helps the gymnast to build up speed during the run-up and then leap with force, before sticking to the landing spot.

Nike’s track athletes wearing the Zoom Victory Spike will carry a mere 100gm in weight. Every single component has been chosen to reduce weight — even the thread used is the lightest available. Instead of a sock liner, the designers used a single piece of lightweight suede. Instead of fitting a heel counter, a hole was cut to expose the foot itself, which also ensures a snug, custom fit that prevents slippage.

Kayakers usually go barefoot, but the US rowing team asked team sponsor Nike to develop footwear for them that would provide lightweight protection and traction for their feet during a race. The result is the Grigoros (Greek for quick), a low-profile skin that easily slips over the foot made from a single piece of Nike’s 100% recycled, stickiest rubber compound.

As official sponsor of, among others, the US Olympic team, Nike can expect to get good exposure for their almost nothing footwear range with quite a few records broken and podium appearances.

Yao Ming and Reebok

Deane Northard of the PR and communications department of Reebok in SA, says the brand will focus on two Olympic inspired shoes that will be launched during the Olympic season. Those are the Taikan RRP and the Yao Ming Pump Omni Hexride.

The Taikan is a lightweight racer for middle to long distance runners. It has all the cushioning, support and durability needed for long distance marathons, but built into a lightweight, mesh-lined upper to give Olympic gold medal contenders that extra advantage.

The Yao Ming Pump Omni Hexride is named after Yao Ming, a professional basketball star who plays for the Houston Rockets in the National Basketball Association.

He is one of China’s most successful exports, and currently the tallest player in the NBA at 7’6’’. Ming has been honoured by being named in the NBA All Stars team three times to date.

This signature series Yao Ming Basketball shoe is inspired by the 2008 Beijing Olympics with red and gold Olympic colouring and Chinese styling. It is a tribute to China’s most popular sports hero with the Olympics being held in his home country.

But, Olympic exposure does not only come from sponsoring athletic stars and national teams. Asics will gain exposure as the 2008 Beijing Olympic broadcast sponsor of Eurosport, which will include TV ads, indents and break bumpers.

As part of this deal, Eurosport has created two special programmes for the benefit of Asics and its two ambassadors, Stefano Baldini and Viktor Röthlin, says Janine Stokes, brand manager of Asics in SA.

Dressing Team SA

The Olympic year is not only about new product, world records, law suits and controversy. Many brands are official teamwear suppliers to national teams, with a proud heritage of involvement with the greatest sporting tradition in the world.

The 135-strong SA Olympic team will receive their team kit at their base camp in Daegu, South Korea where they will attend a training camp in the week leading up to the Beijing Games. This will be the last part of Team SA’s preparation before leaving for the hot and heavy Beijing air. All athletes are expected to arrive in the athletes’ village three days prior their competition commencement date.

We have been reliably informed that the SA team kit will be supplied by Mizuno, but the SA distributors Leisure Holdings could not confirm this.

The team from Swimming SA (22) will form the biggest contingent in Beijing and are also expected to bring home the most medals.

At the time of going to press, athletes from the following other sporting codes have qualified for Beijing: archery (1), boxing (Jackson Chauke), cycling (5 — including Robbie Hunter), fencing (6), gymnastics (Odette Richard), sailing (3) and shooting (2).

The announcement of qualifiers from other sporting codes are to be made after Sports Trader had gone to press.

Team SA at Paralympics

The SA Paralympic team members have always been much stronger medal contenders than their able bodied counterparts. At the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games the SA team finished 13th on the medal table with 15 golds included in a haul of 35 medals.

At the time of going to press, athletes from the following sporting codes have qualified to participate in the Paralympic Games in Beijing: athletics (which should include possible medallists Ernst van Dyk and Oscar Pistorius), aquatics (with Natalie du Toit set to repeat her previous magnificent medal haul), cycling, equestrian, power-lifting, rowing, table tennis, wheelchair basketball (men) and wheelchair tennis.

The SA Paralympic team will be kitted out in new teamwear designed by Puma SA.

Puma is also the official supplier of several teams competing in the able bodied Summer Olympics, including Sweden, Jamaica and Morocco, says Brett Bellinger, marketing director of Puma SA.

Puma’s mantra for their Runway Collection launched earlier in 2008, and extended into an Olympic Runway Collection, is: Look better, feel better, perform better.

“Suffice to say that not only will the products have the latest technical advancements, but they will also look amazing on the track and field, ensuring that the athletes compete in style,” says Bellinger.

Not only will the technical advancements in terms of lighter weight and speed enhancement assist the Olympic athletes, but also the fact that the product looks and feels better than anything else to date. That will ensure that they have a feeling of looking good, which will hopefully also translate into an improved performance, adds Bellinger.

Puma medal winners can look forward to receiving their prizes in outfits like the Podium Suit Jacket sporting the signature eight lane Puma Runway graphic and the Podium Suit Pant, featuring an inside drawcord and knee articulation detail that makes this pant stylish and highly functional.

The Ceremony Dress worn by the women during official occasions features the Runway eight lane graphic across the front of the dress, adding a little fun and flash to the collection.

Apart from the national teams, Puma also sponsors Usain Bolt of Jamaica, who recently ran the second fastest 100m of all time and looks like a massive prospect for the Beijing Olympics. He and other athletes will benefit from the development of the new Cell Meio L and other running styles. The Cell Meio boasts the new inverse DuoCell technology, which creates a ride specific to each runners footstrike, the Cell Meio also has a TPU injected heel and forefoot that provides responsiveness, energy return and comfort.

Who’ll have the balls?

As with the FIFA World Cup, adidas also has a long-running agreement with the International Olympic Committee to supply the match ball for football.hile individual athletes are entitled to use the equipment supplied by their sponsors, all team sports have official Olympic ball sponsors.

Mikasa will be the official Olympics sponsor for water polo and volleyball. Commenting on this, Nick Wiltshire, general manager of Pat Wiltshire Sports, says Mikasa’s active involvement with the Olympic movement goes back to the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games.

In Beijing this summer, Mikasa will be the official game ball for volleyball, which will be represented by 288 participants of which 144 are men, and 144 are ladies from the twelve countries who qualified for the events.

Beach volleyball will be represented by 96 participants, while water polo will be represented by 260 participants, of whom 156 are men and 104 are ladies.

Ivan Kukuljevic of ABT Imports, supplier of Molten, the official Olympic basketball sponsors, emphasises the fact that the Molten BGL7 and BGL6 will be the official basketballs used at the Beijing Olympic Games for men and women.

Activists threaten sponsorships

Sponsorship of teams and athletes are usually a badge of honour that is closely guarded against possible ambush marketers, the Beijing Olympics almost became a poisoned chalise as human rights activists, protesting China’s harsh action against Tibetan protesters, threatened to boycott products of all Olympic sponsors.

Especially adidas came under fire. Critics of their sponsorship of uniforms for staff, volunteers and technical personnel for 27 sporting codes at the Olympics in Beijing voiced their concern at the adidas AGM that brand was being linked to human rights abuses. Some members of the German team, also sponsored by adidas, threatened to wear protest armbands with the slogan Sport for Human Rights.

“We will not let ourselves be held morally responsible for a situation which we did not create and for which we are not accountable,” adidas CEO Herbert Hainer responded.

Of late, the brand’s association with the Olympics has not been too happy. Following a ban by the International Olympic Committee of the three stripes on team uniforms, limiting brand exposure, adidas said that they will reconsider their future sponsorship of some sporting codes.

But, as sponsors of the Chinese Olympic team, as well as all Olympic officials, they hope to benefit this year from sales in the massive Asian market that accounts for about a third of their annual sales — and in the process threaten Nike’s dominant position.