New faces, new names, new brand, new logo, new sponsors and now a new team kit deal. With each step it seems the new Olympic Federation of Ireland (OFI) continues to distance itself from the governing body formerly known as the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI).
The announcement that adidas will supply the Team Ireland kit for two Olympic events this summer is both timely and welcome: the OFI were left without a team kit sponsor after previous supplier New Balance decided against an extension of their four-year deal which expired after the Rio 2016 Summer Games.
The hope and expectation is the adidas deal, arranged through Irish distributor McKeever Sport, may be extended to include next year’s Tokyo 2020 Summer Games, set for July 24th to August 9th. In the meantime the adidas kit will be worn by Irish athletes and officials at the European Olympic Games in Minsk, Belarus in June, followed by the European Youth Olympic Festival in Baku, Azerbaijan in July.
"We are happy to have an iconic brand providing support for our athletes at these events in 2019 and look forward to developing the partnership between adidas and McKeever Sports with Team Ireland during the year," said Peter Sherrard, who in 2017 year became the new chief executive of the OFI, and has been steering many of the changes beneath the surface since.
“2019 is an important year for the Olympic Federation of Ireland with two major games taking place in June and July, at a time of significant ongoing preparations for next year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo.”
