adidas, the Official Sportswear Partner of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, has committed £1million to getting young Londoners participating in sport with the launch of five giant multisport outdoor venues called ‘adiZones’.
The adiZones, which form part of adidas’s £100million investment in the Games, will be located in each of the five Host Boroughs (Tower Hamlets, Greenwich, Hackney, Newham and Waltham Forest). Tower Hamlets was opened yesterday by 400 metres Olympic Gold medallist, Christine Ohuruogu. Designed by The Great Outdoor Gym Company, the sites are permanent installations measuring 625sq metres and have been inspired by the sports of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, incorporating basketball, football and tennis areas, a climbing wall, an outdoor gym and an open area for dance, aerobics and gymnastics.
Free for the community to use as part of adidas’s pledge to create a legacy from the London 2012 Games, the adiZones will serve local communities across the five boroughs as spaces where young people can meet socially while being encouraged to play sports. Each adiZone will be maintained by its local borough and it is hoped this first investment from adidas will be matched by the government-backed ‘National Sports Foundation’ to further develop the surrounding area with sporting facilities.
Says Nick Craggs, director of marketing, adidas Area North (pictured): “When adidas announced our London 2012 tier one sponsorship we committed to encouraging and inspiring London’s youth to participate in sport. The adiZones in the five Host Boroughs are an initial step towards creating a real legacy and demonstrating the adidas commitment post the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games. It is important that free sporting facilities are made available if we are truly going to get the nation participating in sport.”
London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe welcomed the adiZone programme: “We deliberately set out to bring commercial partners to the London 2012 table early on in the process so we could work with them to develop meaningful programmes to support their investment. The fact that adidas has taken on our vision of inspiring young people through sport in such an innovative way justifies that decision and we look forward to seeing the programme roll out wider in the coming months and years.
“It is fantastic to see adidas getting out into the communities with an initiative which will have a real legacy in London and has the potential to make a real difference in young people’s lives.”
