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news
Team GB 2012 kit unveiled - three cheers for the, er, turquoise, white and blue
Adidas has this morning unveiled the Stella McCartney kit that Britain’s athletes will wear at the London 2012 Olympics, now just over four months away. While the prospect of the first home Olympics since 1948 plus the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations means that the country is likely to become swathed in a sea of red, white and blue over the summer, the likes of Sir Chris Hoy won’t.
If the London 2012 logo provoked controversy when it was launched in 2007 – a selection of comments can be found on the BBC Sport Editors’ blog – we suspect that’s nothing compared to what the public reaction will be when the 2012 kit hits the newspapers.
Cycling and other sports are ones in which there is a balance between progress, on the one hand, and tradition and heritage on the other, with many people feeling that some things just shouldn’t be altered, and that includes the basic colours of national kit.
Those don't necessarily reflect national flag colours - the Netherlands' orange is derived from the colours of the royal house of that name, while Italy’s azzurri wear the blue that was the colour of the House of Savoy under which the country was united; however, Britain’s finest have always tended to chase gold in the red, white and blue of the Union Flag.
Except this year, they’ll be doing so in several shades of blue, including turquoise, with red reserved for the collar. It's not so much the de-emphasising of the red that is likely to cause most comments, however - that's been happening for some time - but rather the toying with the colours of what remains one of the world's most readily identifiable flags.
While reaction to the kit is likely to revolve around its aesthetics, there’s a scientific reason too for ensuring that team kit should contain a healthy splurge of red – a study by sports psychologists in Germany published in 2009 found that athletes and teams wearing red kit were 10 per cent were more successful than those wearing other colours.
Researchers suggested that a combination of the confidence the colour inspires and the feelings of dominance and aggression it provoked might lie behind the findings.
There was evidence, too that it wasn’t just competitors who were influenced by kit colour. As part of the research, Tae-Kwondo judges were shown videos of bouts, and awarded more points to those with red, rather than blue belts; when the images were digitally altered to reverse the colours, those whose blue belts had been manipulated to appear red came out on top.
There’s a bit more red on the tracksuit worn by Victoria Pendleton in this picture, although again the change of colour palette of the flag itself is going to jar with purists, not to mention incorporating the belt into its design.
The kit got its launch this morning at the Tower of London. It’s been a few hundred years since they stuck traitors’ heads on spikes on nearby London Bridge, but we wouldn’t be surprised if some of the newspapers are calling for heads to roll come the morning.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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60 comments
I actually quite like the kit, but not as the Olympic/National kit - it's just not that identifiable. If this was a pro-team kit I'd say it was quite classy, nicely understated. But as a national kit, I just think it lacks any national identity, and so totally misses the point.
I just read BBC's news about it and saw this
LONDON 2012 TEAM SPONSORS
USA - Nike
Russia - Bosco
Germany - Bogner, Adidas and Sioux
Australia - Adidas
China - Anta for the formal uniform, various sponsors for sports kit
Great for British business then
Please correct me if Ive taken this the wrong way but were you expecting the Olympics to create a boom in the british sports apparel industry due to the supply of national kit to various global national teams?
Well it would have been a start, just off the top of my head
Umbro - Tracksuits, Luggage
Impsport - Cycling, Triathlon, BMX
Vandanel - Football
Milano - Gymnastics
Viga - Athletics
That would have been a good move to kit out UK guys and girls in UK brand kit?
Yes, I understand that these companies produce 'sports' kit but there has to be a level of quality and performance for olympic level athletes too. Impsport, in my opinion, is a long way short of the requirement (just to pick on one brand). You also mentioned a variety of foreign teams suggesting they should wear british made kit, why? Busineses in London will do well, businesses involved in sports that we are successful in and get coverage will do well (cycling will be one) and in that respect it is very good for UK business.
Sorry, I seem to have missed something, maybe, I don't know, not clued up on Olympic's in's and out's, are there only certain brands that all countries competing have to wear??
If thats the case, then i'm a bit off the mark.
But i didn't mention any foreign teams and what they should wear
[i][u]EDIT:[/i][/u] I shall leave what i've written above so everyone can see my foolish mistake
I am WAY wrong, the way i read it, i thought sponsors related to the GB team kit and now after going back and reading it again, four times, it's only just sunk in, those are the kit sponsors for the countries as they are listed
I wonder in what way they are going to 're-mix' the National anthem this summer.
Calvin Harris is on the case it make it more Scottish
Kraftwerk are doing it - well, we've got a German kit...
BTW, why is Hoy leaning on Wiggins' Dogma?
Will be his. Road rides are part of his training programme. All the track team have red, white and blue Pinarello training bikes. eg: Here is Dani King out training today.
Where can you get the replica all in one as modelled by Sir Chris......I need it for my daily commute especially if this weather stays as warm as it is!
Hmmmm I do like Hoy and Murray not having GREAT BRITAIN plastered across it, but thats just because i'm Scottish. Its a bloody awful kit, did we expect any better from the idiots at the head of the Olympics?
Maybe I'm down with the kids, maybe I don't know what I'm on about... But I like it. Certainly better than the last Olympic gear (white top, blue shorts, GREAT BRITAIN across the chest) which was dull, dull, dull. British cycling's kit in Copenhagen was "traditional" red, white and blue Union-flag-based but I thought it was awful as depending on what side of the road the cameras were on depended on whether you were looking out for riders in blue or red!
I think the Team Pursuiters would like quite menacing in their blue/black up against the Aussies in their dayglo yellow gear (and we will need all the pyschological advantages we can use at the moment...)
WTF!!!
I suppose we are stuck with red, white and blue. But does the background have to be navy? Why not green or orange or purple? Shorts would be black natch.
I wonder if giving a road bike to Chris Hoy is like giving a manual stick drive to an American?
Does he know how it works?
I like dark blue personally, though I think there should have been more red and less white.
Athletes in red are better. Shame the UK athletes actually can't see they are wearing red
Don't shoot me, but I like it!
next time get Rapha to do it.
Could we afford that to happen?
I think the new uniforms are ace. Way more tasteful than the brighter blue/red combo of the actual flag. Unless we want our teams wandering round looking like Ginger Spice. Plus, maybe the darker colours are edging towards black, and that make athletes more aggressive :-
http://www.laymanpsych.com/black-uniforms-and-aggression
It's just awful.
They won't listen to us, of course, but money talks, and they might be swayed by the thought that sales of replica kit will be pitiful.
I'd guess whatever replica kit there will be will already have hit the warehouse so it's probably a moot point. Besides, I don't think replica Olympic kit has quite the same market as for example, football shirts so it's probably not something they'd worry about.
I've not noticed the kit. I'm still staring at Sir Chris Hoy's quads.
Heading for gold? Nope just the TK Max clearance rack.
Never mind the outfits i like the Pinarello in the team colours.
Mind you the wrap around the waist in VP's image looks crap and thats being polite.
The *old* team colours, you mean...
i think the design as applied to VP's judo style jacket and the tennis top / football shirt look ok but some of the other stuff is just a bit... meh? And what's with the X factor stomach girdle thing on the runners kit?
I think it's ace. Cue the "my six year old could design better" remarks.
My three and a half year old could design better. And she's a miniature schnauzer...
chris hoy with a road bike?
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