Adidas marks Olympic countdown with athlete funding
30/10/2009
With the London Olympics only 1000 days away, a group of Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) has set up a ceremony to pass on funding from sportswear brand adidas to some of its biggest medal hopes at the 2012 games.
Under an initiative called the adidas Medal Incentive Funding programme, hurdler Sally McLellan, swimmer Cate Campbell, slalom canoer Robin Bell, and divers Matthew Mitcham and Melissa Wu, all received cheques at the event, which took place in Sydney on October 30.
The programme gives financial assistance to all medallists from the Beijing 2008 Olympics, with gold medallists receiving 15,000 Australian dollars, silver medallists $10,000 and bronze medallists $7,500.
In total, more than $900,000 in financial support has already been supplied to successful Beijing medallists and aspiring London Olympians and an estimated $5 million is forecast to be paid to athletes between now and 2012.
The adidas Medal Incentive Funding programme is just one part of the adidas support for the Australian Olympic Team with the company also supplying over 100,000 items of apparel and footwear for the Summer Olympics team.
“Adidas has had a long tradition in Olympic sports and we are very proud of our support of the Australian Team,” adidas Australia's marketing director, Simon Millar, commented. “We are especially proud that this support goes beyond supplying our cutting edge technology to help the athletes perform their best, and includes supporting them in between Olympics so they can focus on their training and performing again in 1000 days in London.”
AOC Director of Sport, Fiona de Jong said: “This commitment by adidas to our Olympians and aspiring Olympians has a meaningful impact on the lives of Australia’s athletes, their ability to remain in their sport and continue to train allowing them to pursue their Olympic dreams."
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