Team GB have launched the official Adidas Olympic kit and stuck with the traditional Union flag after Nike sparked outrage with an ‘inclusive’ pink and purple flag.
The newly revealed Adidas team kit has gone for a much safer option than Nike, sticking with the iconic red, white and blue flag.
Earlier this month, Nike suffered a massive backlash for their sale of Olympic merchandise to fans which were called union jack flags but were pink and purple with dots and squiggly lines.
Bath-based agency Thisaway, who came up with the concept, said they wanted to ‘find a way of refreshing Team GB’s colour palette’ because it was ‘far from unique’, prompting a backlash from politicians and the public.
Former British athlete Fatima Whitbread said she was ‘absolutely disgusted’ by the new merchandise because the Union Jack ‘represents everything that embraces what’s good about our country as years have gone by’.
Fortunately, the Team GB kit for Paris 2024 are on a white base and has the standard union flag on the arm.
The design is described as ‘grounded in simplicity’ and ‘builds around the classic British red, white and blue’.
It features ‘white lion head graphics’ and is designed so the red and white elements pop against the blue.
Team GB have launched the official Adidas Olympic kit and stuck with the traditional Union flag. Pictured is Team GB’s BMX star Kieran Reilly in the new kit
Leah Crisp poses during the Team GB swimming squad announcement in the new uniform
The Team GB kit for Paris 2024 have the standard union flag on the arm (pictured)
A close-up of the flag on the new Nike England soccer jersey at a fan store in London, Britain, 22 March 2024 which was slammed for using ‘woke’ colours in the flag
Team GB’s Laviai Nielsen during the Adidas Olympic and Paralympic kit launch
Two-time Olympian Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake (left) and gymnast Max Whitlock (right)
Charlotte Worthington (left) made BMX freestyle history winning a gold medal in 2020. Tom Daley (right) who is the first GB diver to win four Olympic medals
Jazmin Sawyers, a track and field athlete and sports presenter who competes in the long jump
Jacqueline King, Design Director, Specialist Sports, adidas said about the newly-launched kit: ‘Our belief is that there is no greater demonstration of what it means to design for an athlete, than a tournament that showcases the breadth and variety of sport.
‘Alongside the goal of supporting the athlete to perform at their best when the pressure builds, these collections seek to connect them to their home nations, via designs inspired by their individual national identities.
‘These elements are brought together in a kit which is grounded in simplicity – resulting in a sleek, modern collection.’
The kit will use a typeface inspired by the 1924 Games in Paris 100 years ago when Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell won gold medals, according to The Telegraph.
Gymnast Max Whitlock and divers Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix and Tom Daley are among those who were photographed modelling the new kit.
The new launch which is aimed to allow athletes to ‘participate in comfort, and without distraction’ is in stark contrast to the Team USA kit, which includes a high-cut leotard that was slammed as sexist by some athletes.
It follows the backlash over the pink and purple flag controversy which Team GB insisted would not feature on their kit.
That Team GB flag furore came just a fortnight after the backlash over the new Nike England football shirt, which changed the colour of the red St George’s Cross on the back of the collar.
Whitbread, who won two Olympic medals in the javelin, told GB News at the time: ‘I’m absolutely disgusted to think they’ve done it. It represents our late Queen. It represents everything that embraces what’s good about our country as years have gone by.
‘I feel strongly about that. No way should they have just gone ahead and changed the country’s symbolic colours. It is about national pride and unity.
‘Red, white, and blue, it has been that for 223 years, so why change it? Why is there a need to change it just because of other countries?
Breakdancer Sunni Brummit during the Adidas Olympic and Paralympic kit launch
Team GB’s Lois Toulson, a diver who is a specialist in the 10 metre platform in the new kit
The FA and Nike defended changes to the St George’s Cross on the England shirt last month
The new Team GB Union Jack branding which featured pink and purple colours on the flag
Team GB’s rebrand of the Union Jack colours, opting for pink and purple, has faced a backlash
‘Our forefathers went to war for us and fought for all the different things that we stand for now, that shouldn’t just be wiped out either. A Union Jack is what it’s all about for me – and it should be for those younger ones.’
However, sources insist the Adidas Olympic kit is unlikely to prompt further controversy, unlike the London 2012 sportswear, when designer Stella McCartney took out the red in a deconstructed Union flag.
Explaining the concept at the time, Thisaway said: ‘Obviously red, white and blue is synonymous with Great Britain, but it’s far from unique, with other competing nations such as France and USA also sporting the same colours.
‘We needed to find a way of refreshing Team GB’s colour palette in a way that is both flexible and ownable.
‘Rather than trying to look beyond the traditional colours, we decided to embrace them and push the iconic red white and blue as far as we could.
‘The result is a vibrant and varied colour palette that has the versatility to be restrained and traditional in one breath, and bold and contemporary in the next.’
Team GB are selling ‘supporters flags’ with the new colour scheme for £12 on their online shop, as well as bunting for £13. The T-shirts are £26.50.
The design is also available on other merchandise including T-shirts, towels and bottles.
Rishi Sunak repeated a warning that sports kit manufacturers ‘shouldn’t mess’ with national flags amid the row.
Downing Street reiterated the Prime Minister’s view that the UK’s national flags are ‘perfect as they are’ after the controversy over a redesigned St George’s Cross on the England men’s football shirt for Euro 2024 in Germany.
A Team GB water bottle featuring the new Union Jack rebrand ahead of the Paris Olympics
And Malcom Farrow, president of the Flag Institute charity, said he didn’t ‘approve’ of the ‘national symbol of unity’ being ‘defaced’.
Asked about the redesign on a visit to Derbyshire, Mr Sunak, who supports Southampton FC, said: ‘I’d prefer the original (flag) and my general view is that when it comes to the national flags we should not mess with them because they are a source of pride and identity – who we are – and they are perfect as they are.’
Nike said the new blue, red and purple flag represented a ‘playful update’ while cuffs in the same colours were intended as a homage to the 1966 World Cup winning squad’s training kit.
The colours are similar to those of the bisexual pride flag – blue, pink and purple.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the England flag is a ‘unifier’ which ‘doesn’t need fixing’.
Another ex-England goalkeeper, David Seaman, said he believed many in his generation of players would have refused to wear it.
But Nike and the FA defended the change, with a spokesman for the latter saying the new kit had a ‘number of design elements’ paying tribute to the 1966 World Cup winners.