Russian athletes will travel to Beijing under the flag of the Russian Olympic Committee. The delegation will become one of the most representative at these Games – it will include more than 450 people.
Figure skater Evgenia Medvedeva has become the ambassador of the BEIJING 2022 outfit collection. She is a two-time Olympic medalist and two-time World champion, as well as the official ambassador of the ROC Team. She is known and loved both in Russia and abroad.
In the ice show before the presentation, five figure skaters from the Junior National Team – Anastasia Zinina, Kirill Sarnovsky, Sofya Muravyova, Veronika Zhilina, as well as Russian junior champion Sofya Titova – symbolized the five Olympic rings. Olympic champion Alina Zagitova performed with the young figure skater Arina Rotenberg. Two-time Olympic champion Evgeni Plushenko took to the ice with his 6-year-old son with a fragment from Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 playing, which was approved by the IOC as the musical composition for the ROC Team at the Olympic Games in Tokyo and Beijing.
Participants in the large-scale show of the BEIJING 2022 collection were not only professional models, but also athletes. Hockey players from the national team Nina Pirogova and Evgenia Dupina, Olympic champions and prize-winners: skier Alexander Legkov, figure skater Ekaterina Bobrova, fencer Sofya Velikaya, and the winner of the International Physics Olympiad Artemy Novikov.
The main idea of the collection is to reflect the uniqueness of our country without resorting to the use of official symbols. Russia is now not only in the hearts of the Olympians: a map collage, made up of various geographical sites of the country, is placed on the ceremonial outfits and on training T-shirts.
The warm ceremonial outfit is a down jacket with a map print and a colour gradient. On the inside of the jacket there is a hint with the image of locations placed on the exterior – these are the outlines of Lake Baikal, Sochi, Sakhalin, Kamchatka, Lake Ladoga, Franz Josef Land, Novosibirsk Islands, Severnaya Zemlya, Wrangel Island, and Novaya Zemlya.
In developing each Olympic collection, the ZASPORT team has paid tribute to the country and the city hosting the Olympics. BEIJING is featured on T-shirts, baseball caps and towels, while the dragon, the Chinese symbol of wisdom, strength and prosperity, is featured on T-shirts. Also noteworthy are the winter sports pictograms stylized as hieroglyphs.
Another vivid emphasis can be found – the Roman numerals XXIV, representing the 24th edition of the Winter Games. They are featured on the awards ceremony suit, jacket, hoodie, fleece jacket and the face mask sewn into the hood of the tracksuit.
The main colours of the BEIJIING 2022 collection are dark blue, red and Qing (bluish green), which in Chinese culture symbolizes energy and vitality.
The collection uses technological fabrics: the ski suits, parkas and insulated jackets are made of Water Repellent material; insulated vests are made using Thermal Welding technology, which provides reliable protection from external moisture and wind. The tracksuit made of lightweight fleece combined with nylon keeps you warm and comfortable when going out for walks.
Another interesting detail is that the protective mask is sewn into the hood of the suit. The training outfits are made of soft fabric with moisture-regulating properties. The sweatshirt made of Sherpa (dense warm fabric with imitation fur on the front side) keeps you warm and retains the warmth. Hoodies, sweatshirts and T-shirts are made of 100% cotton with Soft Touch effect. Gloves made of high-tech fabric are supplemented with sensors for smartphone screens.
The collection also contains one of the main fashion trends of the season – a balaclava hat. The backpack and belt bag with several pockets are convenient when traveling from the hotel to the competition venues. Insulated boots are made of water-repellent material, and the membrane inside means that they can be worn in cold weather.
Participants of the Games in Beijing and members of the delegation will receive outfits consisting of 68 items, including a ceremonial outfit, an insulated parade outfit, an awards ceremony outfit, a training suit, tracksuits, a parka, an insulated vest, a ski uniform, training and casual-wear T-shirts, a polo, a sweatshirt, a fleece jacket, a jumper, jeans, thermal underwear, shorts, towels, baseball caps, socks, sneakers, insulated boots, hats, a balaclava, a scarf, a backpack, a belt bag, a sports bag on wheels, a suitcase, gloves, a belt and sunglasses, among others.
Anastasia Zadorina, founder of ZASPORT: “When developing the outfit collection, our team had a difficult task – to preserve our national identity without using the state symbols of the country. We have developed a print, consisting of the outlines of geographic locations of Russia, and, one might say, the cities and lakes of our homeland will keep our Olympians warm. Also, according to the established tradition, we remembered the host country where the Olympics are held: the form has the inscription BEIJING and dragons bringing good luck. We also used the Qing colour which in China is considered to be one of the symbols of vital energy. We paid special attention to the selection of materials to make athletes comfortable in difficult climatic conditions. The winter collection is much more complex and detailed than the summer one. We tried to think everything through and I hope that the ZASPORT outfits will bring good luck to everyone because we created it with great love and incredible respect for our Olympians.”
Stanislav Pozdnyakov, President of the Russian Olympic Committee: “A creative approach to the design of the outfit, along with high standards of quality, already traditionally distinguishes the outfit of our athletes in which they are set to perform at the Olympics. I am impressed that our colleagues from ZASPORT find interesting solutions that, on the one hand, emphasize the uniqueness and originality of Russia, making the items easily recognizable for everyone, and on the other hand, integrate elements of the cultural code of the host country. It is very important that athletes take an active part in the process of creating outfits – they can suggest certain nuances. With this in mind, I think the entire lineup will be convenient and practical.”
Evgenia Medvedeva, figure skater, ROC Team ambassador at the Olympics, two-time Olympic silver medalist: “I like the fact that the collection has bright colours – red and blue, along with unusual prints that are very interesting to look at. My favorites are the awards ceremony outfit with Olympic rings in a very delicate colour scheme, the Olympic tracksuit with a sewn-in mask and the fashionable balaclava.”
Jonathan Gurreiro, figure skater, member of the ROC Athletes’ Commission: “I am honored to have been involved in the development of this outfit collection. My colleagues from the Athletes’ Commission and I saw the sketches, discussed the first samples and provided input. It is very pleasant that our wishes are taken into account and that our opinion played a significant role. I like the final result very much, and I am sure that the ROC Team will look stylish and dignified in Beijing.”
Anastasia Tatalina, freestyler: “I already participated in the Olympic Games in South Korea in 2018 and I managed to become a finalist despite my young age. Now I am going to the Olympics with a new status – as the World champion in the big air discipline. I was very lucky to have participated with other athletes in the development of the ZASPORT collection for the upcoming Winter Olympics, so we contributed to its conception. The outfit collection really turned out the way we wanted it to be, and now that I look at it in real life, I am very impressed and I want to put the outfit on as soon as possible!”
