South African Olympic kit: Made by Grandma

SA team unhappy with the Olympic kit - made by Grandma, fit for champions...

For today's weekend post, something of a humorous look at some news emerging out of the Olympic Games training camps this week, with a slightly South African flavour. I'm sure those of you in SA reading this will shake your heads in disbelief (we tend to do that down here), and those of you anywhere else will wonder how backwards it is even possible to be.

The news emerging from the SA Olympic training camp is that the kit and clothing that has been supplied to the athletes is way sub-standard. So sub-standard, in fact, that the labels and embroidery on the athletics vests says "Beljing" instead of "Beijing". It also turns out that the vests are unravelling after only a few days, that very few athletes have kit that is the correct size (a seamstress has reportedly been hired to make adjustments), and the clothing has been made of the same material that is reportedly used to make tracksuits. No ultra-light, breathable fabrics here. In the words of SA's Ruben Ramolefi:

"I expect the runners will have a tough time. The clothes will sap one's energy. I also don't know about these little holes for the arms. The farther you run, the more chafing you will suffer. I don't know why we have been given clothing of such poor quality"

The SA athletes are therefore understandably unhappy. One reported that it looks as though it was made in someone's garage, while another says it seems that "Grandma knitted it". Given the stakes here, you'd have thought that measuring and providing clothing for a group of SA's finest athletes would not be too difficult.

I don't know exactly what transpired in the lead up to Beijing, but the kit is reportedly a mix of Mizuno and a local company called Sedgards, though I'm not sure whose clothing is falling apart), but to give the athletes such poor clothing is a disgrace (incidentally, I know Sedgars kit because when I was at school, they made my hockey uniform - let's just say that the last 10 years haven't changed the quality, if reports are accurate).

Beijing's heat and SA's clothing

More worrying, however, is the impact this is likely to have on performance. In the lead-up to Beijing, we've looked at technology in sport through the Speedo LZR racer in quite a lot of detail. A similar conversation could be had for clothing for running events, though the impact is not as great. It is nevertheless crucial, in Beijing's environment, to have clothing that does allow some breathability and cooling. Our athletes do not have this luxury, which means that already slim hopes in many events are going to be non-existent unless something changes.

Further, the impact this has on the mental preparation is enormous. I believe that the biggest effect of many of the new clothing technologies you'll see in Beijing (like the Adidas Powerweb gear, and the Nike compression garments) is a placebo one - the athlete feels stronger, faster, more powerful, and that translates into better performance. Imagine you're the athlete lining in in lane 3 against Nike on your left, Adidas on your right, and your clothes feel like your grandmother made them...?

Compare this to Australia - fitted one year ago

I hate playing the comparison game to the Aussies (we tend to do this in SA as well), but I have to point out that last year in about November, the Australian Olympic Committee invited hundreds of potential Olympic athletes to a weekend camp where they were measured for clothing IF they made the Olympic team almost a year later. These athletes also had their eyesight tested so that contact lenses could be ordered for them.

Of the measured athletes, perhaps only 60% of them actually made the team, but those who were picked could then have the right sized clothing ordered, and you know it is high quality equipment. Now, why do we, in South Africa, struggle so much to put clothes on our elite athletes? And more to the point, if you can't even put a decent vest together for the Olympics, then how can you hope to actually get the preparation of the athlete right for the competition? Imagine what the training and preparation will reveal - it's not only the clothing that is unravelling at the seams...

If anyone has a similar story from their own Olympic teams, do let us know!

Ross