The Olympic Federation of Ireland today announced a renewed partnership with Irish sportswear wholesaler McKeever Sports to supply Team Ireland athlete’s product for the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020. The partnership will see McKeever Sports provide a range of adidas products that the Team Ireland athletes helped finalise the designs for utilising the adidas mi Team portal.
In 2019 McKeever Sports supplied a range of adidas training apparel, village and competition wear for Team Ireland athletes who competed at the European Games in Minsk, the European Youth Olympic Festival in Baku, the ANOC World Beach Games in Doha, and this year’s Winter Youth Olympic Festival in Lausanne.
Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan
The Olympic Games in Tokyo will see a team of up to 80 athletes compete across up to twenty sports, with 46 athlete spots already secured in ten sports. The final stages of garment and colour choices on the adidas mi team portal saw input from Gymnast Rhys McClenaghan, Modern Pentathlete Natalya Coyle, Hockey Player Hannah Matthews and Race Walker Brendan Boyce to the adidas product, which was received very positively.
Announcing the renewed partnership, Olympic Federation of Ireland CEO Peter Sherrard said,
“We are delighted to renew our partnership with McKeever Sports for 2020. It has been a pleasure working with Padraic and the team over the past twelve months, and their attention and commitment to Team Ireland has been tremendous. We look forward to continuing to work together and to strengthen what is already a successful relationship.”
Padraic McKeever Managing Director of McKeever Sports said,
“McKeever Sports are delighted to once again team up the Olympic Federation of Ireland for Tokyo 2020. Being involved with Team Ireland for the worlds biggest sporting event is an amazing opportunity for McKeever Sports and one we wish to deliver at the highest levels of service. McKeever Sports expertise in delivering high quality product to Team Ireland coupled with the talent and dedication of the Athletes and staff will hopefully prove a winning formula in Tokyo this summer.”
Deputy Chef for Team Ireland Gavin Noble commented,
“Naturally we place a great deal of importance around our team apparel both in terms of performance and identity. Thanks to our strong relationships with McKeever Sports we are able to kit Team Ireland athletes out to the highest level in an iconic brand. Importantly too, we are including our athletes as part of the decision making process so that their voice is heard in terms of design, function and fit.”
Athletes
Brendan Boyce (Athletics – Race Walker)
Double Olympian Brendan Boyce was the first Irish athlete to achieve qualification standard for the Tokyo Olympics, with a time of 3:48.18 in the 50km Race Walk in Lithuania May 2019. He finished 6th in the World Championships in Doha 2019. Brendan lives in Cork and is from Co. Donegal.
Rhys McClenaghan (Gymnastics – Pommel)
World Bronze Medallist in the Pommel Horse, Rhys McClenaghan is one of Ireland’s brightest stars. The twenty year old is from Co. Down and he is already Commonwealth Champion (2018), European Champion (2018) and qualified for Tokyo based on his finish position at the worlds.
Natalya Coyle (Modern Pentathlon)
Natalya Coyle is a double Olympian who qualified a spot for Team Ireland in Tokyo 2020 based on her finish position at the European Championships in Bath last July. The 29-year-old is from Co. Meath.
Hannah Matthews (Hockey)
Hannah Matthews was a member of the historic women’s hockey team who secured Tokyo qualification at the Olympic qualifier in Dublin last November. The 28 year old is from Rathfarnham, Co. Dublin and is a primary school teacher.
