Seething Sponsors to Fine Russian Olympic Team for Breaching Contract
- From: "captain." <spammersmustdie@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2006 22:02:38 GMT
Seething Sponsors to Fine Russian Olympic Team for Breaching Contract
http://www.mosnews.com/column/2006/02/21/olympicwear.shtml
Russian Olympic Committee is facing a $1 million fine for breaching the
terms of its sponsorship contract with Bosco di Ciliegi, a clothing company
that dresses the Russian team. However it is not quite clear who is to blame
for the fact that the athletes chose to perform in their regular sportswear
rather than in haut couture Bosco uniforms.
The owner of Bosco, Mikhail Kusnirovich, was enraged to see the Russian
female skiers, who won the gold medal at the 4x5 kilometer relay, come to
the award ceremony in their regular sportswear Saturday, instead of putting
on the red-and-white sponsor uniforms.
The media earlier reported that Bosco uniforms they evoked criticism from
the International Olympic Committee and athletes alike. The Committee
disliked the size of numerous logos in which the clothes were covered, and
the athletes complained they were uncomfortable.
The Bosco logos had to be covered by stickers, and the wear made the
athletes' feet sore, so no wonder that the skiers opted for their regular
clothes both at the track and at the awards ceremony. However the incident
was the straw that broke the camel's back and incited a number of angry
statements from Kusnirovich.
The blow was especially hard on the businessman's ambition, because the
girls' victory was so dramatic and spectacular that the Russian media called
it the most striking of all the Russian team's achievements in Turin.
Kusnirovich decided to act roughly, and said he would claim a penalty of $1
million from the Russian Olympic Committee for breaching the terms of the
sponsorship contract, Komsomolskaya Pravda daily said. However no official
statement has been issued so far.
The Russian Olympic Committee Chairman, Leonid Tyagachev, did not sound in
the least scared by the threats when he commented on the conflict. He also
has faults to find with the team's sponsor, who has taken to interfering in
the athletes' training schedule by dragging them to lavish late-night
parties.
"I will not let anyone meddle in the team's affairs," Tyagachev was quoted
by KP as saying.
"The athletes suffer immense stress. And imagine them being distracted by
presentation, and dragged to the "Russian House" right after the contest!"
"It is bearable if the contest is over for the athlete. But just think of
Svetlana Zhurova being dragged to a party after she won the 500m distance,
and still had the 1000m to run! You know how miserably she failed at the
distance," Tyagachev added.
"I have talked to Mr. Kusnirovich and asked him to stop bothering the
Olympic athletes. A sponsor should produce clothes that would not need to be
covered by stickers, and not brawl."
"We will get back to that after the Games, and for now I have forbidden to
let the athletes visit the "Russian House". As for the $1 million claim -
considering the costs of training the Olympic team of our enormous country,
this is nothing. Next time we will only work with companies that want to
help the team, and not only seek PR.|"
.
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