Mixed reactions after Nike releases Kenya’s Tokyo Olympic kits
Sports
By
Gameyetu and AFP
| Feb 06, 2020
Majority of Kenyans online are not happy with the new kit NIKE have made for Kenya to use in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The kit, which has tried to amplify the Kenyan flag colours, has a series of hexagons outlines in green, with a bit of red and black dots on the inside.
A retail version of Nike's Zoom Alphafly NEXT% footwear was unveiled Wednesday by the shoemaker, only days after new World Athletics rules-tightening on prototype shoes.
The Air Zoom Viperfly is aimed for the 100-meter sprint crowd, while Nike's Air Zoom Victory is designed for 800m to 10-kilometer races, with sales expected to begin this summer.
Just five days earlier, the global track and field governing body introduced tougher rules on footwear for competitors.
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Nike's controversial Alphafly prototype shoes were worn by Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge when he broke the two-hour marathon barrier in Vienna last October.
"For runners, records like the four-minute mile and two-hour marathon are barometers of progress. These are barriers that have tested human potential. When someone like Eliud breaks them, our collective belief about what's possible changes," says Tony Bignell, Nike's vice president of Footwear Innovation.
The kit designed for Kenya has elicited mixed reactions on social media.
Here are some of the reactions captured by Game Yetu:
Looks like an outfit to commemorate the coming of the deadly corona virus — Samdomigo (@samdomigo2) February 6, 2020
Very unpleasant/ horrible
— Nner® (@Jarnner) February 6, 2020
Please do away with this kit. Very dull and not Kenyan at all. No please — Chebasa (@Chebasa3) February 6, 2020
shambolic!! — Ertu?rul Bey (@crookedQue) February 6, 2020
Not identifying as the usual one. The usual one are more eye catching and more of national flag. Kindly maintain the usual outfit. — George Rotich (@GeorgyRotich) February 6, 2020
So after locusts invasion, this is what @Nike could design for Kenya team: fire the designer. it is a NO — Ken Mwirigi (@KMwirigi) February 6, 2020