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The big money deals are still enjoyed by only a fe
« on: Apr 13th, 2016, 10:55pm » |
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Fashionable brands have long dominated the sportswear market, but up to now few have specifically targeted disability sports. Adidas Running Schuhe Nike has now become the first to produce a sole for a blade used by amputee runners. Has the era of Paralympic chic dawned?
It's one of the most widely recognised, and lucrative, brands in the world. The distinctive Nike swoosh logo has adorned the kit of sporting greats such as Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Rafael Nadal and Wayne Rooney, helping to sell billions of pounds of sportswear around the globe.Many of the sportsmen and women Nike sponsors embody Adidas Zx Flux Dame not just outstanding sporting achievement but also an ideal of physical perfection.
But for one of its newest products, Nike has teamed up with an athlete whose sporting prowess is based on her physical difference from her rivals.Sarah Reinertsen, from Orange County in California, is a record-breaking sprinter, marathon runner, triathlete and Ironman competitor.She also happens to be an above-knee amputee.
Born with a bone-growth disorder, Reinertsen underwent an amputation at the age of seven. She has collaborated with Nike in the design of a new lightweight sole, emblazoned with the famous swoosh logo, http://www.fed-kamenz.del which clips on to a carbon-fibre running blade.Previously, leg amputees would cut the soles off a regular pair of trainers and glue them to the bottom of their prosthesis. Some even used strips from old vehicle tyres to cushion them from the impact of the road.
The blade and the sole
The Nike sole clips on to a carbon-fibre blade made by the Ossur company.Both are sold only as part of a package with the socket that attaches to what remains of the runner's leg This is for running, different prosthetics are used for walking and swimmingReinertsen admits that a partnership with the world's biggest sportswear firm is a far cry from her early days as a competitive athlete."For many years I didn't have any sponsors," she told BBC News.
"We'd do little local fundraisers in my town to try to raise some money just so I could compete." Nike Air Max 90 Dames Young amputees, such as soldiers who have been injured in Afghanistan, are aspirational - fashion is important to them because of their age
Saeed Zahedi, Visiting professor of prosthetics, University of Surrey
The big money deals are still enjoyed by only a few Paralympians - most disabled athletes struggle to attract individual sponsors, even at the elite level. But marketing experts say there are clear signs that perceptions are changing.Athletes like South African double amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius are helping to lend some Olympic glamour to Paralympic sports, says Steve Sutherland, a sports marketing consultant based in London.
"I'm not surprised that huge brands are becoming more involved. There's a higher level of awareness of the Paralympics and the competitors are no longer being patronised - they're being taken Adidas Superstar Herre seriously and seen as athletes in their own right, as they should be," he says."If I'd had to try and find sponsors (for disability sport) five or 10 years ago I might have got a sympathy vote but it wouldn't have been anything like the response we're seeing now."
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