Why we settled on new Olympic kit

A sample of the Kenyan Olympic kit. [Reuters]

National Olympics Committee of Kenya (NOC-K) President Paul Tergat has defended the design of the new kit that Team Kenya will be donning at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Addressing the media on Friday, Tergat said the design was as a result of a wide consultative process - spanning two years - which brought on board ideas from different stakeholders.

“This was not a unilateral decision made by NOC-K or Nike, overnight. It is a by-product of two years of consultations between Nike, Athletics Kenya, NOC-K, and others stakeholders, and included extensive research, comprehensive discussions, and constant revisions before Nike’s creative team ultimately worked on and released the final design,” said Tergat.

“Kenya Rugby players also had an opportunity to meet with Nike officials after the USA Sevens in Las Vegas, and gave their input during the preparatory stage.”

He said the decision to revise Kenya’s Olympics kit design was reached following requests from the athletes and other sports stakeholders for change.

“There was a general feeling among the athletes that we needed a new fresh design for this year’s Olympics; they (athletes) are very excited with the new kit, which we will be launching in April.”

“The design reflects our national pride and colours of our national flag; the kit is made of high quality unique fabric that absorbs moisture fast which is important owing to the hot climatic conditions expected in Tokyo during the Olympics.”

The NOC-K President added that criticism based on photos is premature, saying Kenyans will be impressed with the kit once they see and have a feel of them after the launch.

“We value the opinions of Kenyans and we will be expanding our scope to include more views from the general public in future. But for now, the time remaining to the start of the Olympics cannot allow for further revisions and redesigning.”