Red, white and new: Team GB kit covers all the right bases
THIS is the first look at the kit Britain’s athletes will wear at this year’s Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris. The design by Adidas is described as “grounded in simplicity” and “builds around the classic British red, white and blue” while featuring “white lion head graphics”. The “sleek, modern collection” is designed so the red and white elements pop against the blue when athletes are competing. Among those modelling the kit were gymnast Max Whitlock and divers Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix — daughter of First Dates host Fred Sirieix — and Tom Daley. Daley, who first competed at the 2008 Olympics and won his first medal at the 2012 London Games, said: “Heading into my fifth Olympics, I can genuinely say nothing compares to competing in my Team GB kit, knowing that all the training I’ve done is gearing towards hopefully winning a medal for my country.
“This new kit totally sums up that special feeling and I cannot wait to wear it in Paris this summer.”
The typeface is said to draw its inspiration from the outfits worn by British athletes at the Paris Olympics in 1924, the last time the city staged the Games.
It comes after the British Olympic Association promised a traditional approach to its kit after a backlash over its sale of some Union Flag merchandise in different colours.
The Football Association also found itself at the centre of a controversy when Nike changed the colour of the St George’s Cross on the collar of the England football team’s kit.
Adidas said the “design principles” behind the new Team GB kit would allow athletes to “participate in comfort, and without distraction” — in stark contrast to the Team USA kit, which includes a highcut leotard branded sexist by some athletes.