Arena, one of the leading companies at world-wide level in the sports water-wear category, has signed a three-year sponsorship agreement with Swim Ireland the national governing body for swimming, diving, water polo, synchronized and open water swimming in Ireland.
Through this relationship, the “brand with the three-diamonds” will be technical sponsor and official supplier of the Irish Federation until June 2013, through the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Swim
In 2009 Irish swimming made a massive surge forwards on the international stage.
At the World Long Course Swimming Championships in
Under the new agreement, Arena will make available to the Irish teams both its technical sports apparel (racing and training suits, caps and goggles) and the official sports kit for all national and international competitions, with the objective of ensuring an authoritative and eye-catching image to the athletes who are called upon to represent their country.
The agreement between Arena and the Federation will cover several international swim meets, including the forthcoming European Championships in Budapest 2010, the European Junior Championships in Helsinki 2010 and the Olympic Games in London 2012. At the Irish national competitions the new partnership will contribute to further promote and develop aquatic activities in
"Thanks to this sponsorship we will continue our important mission to reposition Arena as reference brand for the best performing water-wear equipment and apparel in
"The sponsorship of Swim Ireland is warmly welcomed and we look forward to helping support this initiative. It’s an ideal opportunity to further encourage and increase a higher level of participation in water sports from grass roots through to elite level", said Digby Gunson, Managing Director of Solo Sport, the official Arena Distributor in the
“With two years to go until the London 2012 Olympics, and with our elite squad becoming a greater force on the International scene, there could not be a better time for Swim Ireland to partner with Arena,” commented Sarah Keane, Swim Ireland Chief Executive Officer. “The high performance support system that we provide for our elite swimmers has increased over the past number of years, and with Arena now on board, we are confident that as the National Governing Body, we are giving our swimmers the best opportunities, two years into this Olympic cycle.”
Since 1973, Arena has created and marketed water-wear products for competitive swimmers and swim-fans and it has been recognised as one of the premium brands for high quality swimwear and equipment. Over the last 37 years, the Company has developed a strong expertise in developing best in class products with particular focus on the Pool segment, while also gradually expanding into the Leisure/Beach segment.
Nowadays, Arena operates with commercial subsidiaries in
The genuine liaison of Arena to the world of sport and in particular to swimming competitions is enhanced by sponsoring activities at different levels, including governing bodies, national federations, athletes and clubs.
Arena is title sponsor of the FINA – ARENA Swimming World Cup, historic partner of the LEN (Ligue Europeenne de Natation) and technical sponsor and official supplier to many swimming Federations such as
The Arena Elite Team of international swimming stars includes Champions such as the Brazilian Cesar Cielo (22), gold medal in the 50m freestyle and in the 100m freestyle at the World Championships in Rome, as well as a gold medal in the 50m freestyle in Beijing; the many-times Olympic champion Aaron Peirsol (USA 26), gold medal in the 200m backstroke and in the 4x100m medley relay at the World Championships in Rome and gold medal in the 100m backstroke and in the 4x100m medley relay at the Olympic Games in Beijing; Rebecca Soni (USA, 21), Olympic champion of 200m breaststroke and World champion and World record holder in the 100m breaststroke; Eric Shanteau (USA, 26), gold medallist in 4×100 Medley Relay and silver medallist in 100m Breaststroke in Rome; the British Francesca Halsall (20), silver in 100m freestyle at the World Championships in Rome; the German Paul Biedermann (23), world champion in the 200 and 400m freestyle, the only athlete in the world to have beaten Michael Phelps, at the same time setting 2 new world records; the French Alain Bernard (26), world silver in Rome and Olympic gold in Beijing in the 100m freestyle; the Danish swimmer Lotte Friis (21), world champion in the 800m freestyle and silver in the 1500m freestyle; the Serb Milorad Cavic (25), gold medal in the 50m butterfly and silver medal in the 100m butterfly in Rome and Olympic runner-up in the 100m butterfly; the Hungarian Laszlo Cseh (24), silver medal in the 200m medley and bronze in the 400m medley in Rome and three times silver medal in Beijing (200, 400m medley and 200m butterfly); the Swedish Sara Sjostrom (17), gold medal in the 100m Butterfly at the World Championships in Rome; the South Africans Cameron van der Burgh (21), gold medal and world record in the 50m breaststroke and silver in the 100m breaststroke at the World Championships in Rome, and Roland Schoeman (30), Olympic champion at Athens in the 4x100m relay (2004) and twice world champion in the 50m butterfly in Montreal (2005) and in Melbourne (2007); the Tunisian Oussama Mellouli (26), world and Olympic 1500m freestyle champion; Thomas Lurz (29), gold in the 5km for three successive world championships, including the World Championships in Rome where he also won the 10km; the Norwegian Alexander Dale Oen (23), silver medal in Beijing and European record holder in the 100m breaststroke and silver in the 100m breaststroke, as well as the Polish champion Pawel Korzeniowski (24), silver medal in the 200m butterfly at the World Championships in Rome.
