ALMATY – Kazakhstan’s Sochi Winter Olympics athletes were given their first look at the team’s Olympic gear on New Year’s Eve, when performance athletic wear sets were presented to the public at Almaty’s Baluan Sholak Sports Palace.
Deputy Chairman of the Agency for Sports and Physical Education Ilsiyar Kanagatov and Director of the KazSPO-N company, known for its Zibroo brand, Yelena Svechnikova said the athletic wear sets included 26 items of clothing ranging from socks and thermal wear to caps and sunglasses. Kazakh skiers, skaters, biathletes and representatives of other sports will receive interchangeable sportswear sets, designed for the temperatures under which they’ll practice and perform, worth $2,400.
“The clothes are very beautiful, made in the traditional colours of our country,” Svechnikova said. “Under the contract our factory sews 120 sets of Olympic clothing.”
The design uses various motifs from petroglyphs and other historical and architectural monuments found throughout Kazakhstan, which, according to Svechnikova, should both promote the country’s cultural richness and help athletes win. She also thinks the designs can have commercial success within the country and abroad.
“In October 2013, representatives came to Almaty from Switzerland. When they saw the embroidery design with the elements of ancient ornaments, they said they wanted to sell these jackets in France. Now we are developing a collection of clothes decorated with petroglyphs especially for the European market,” Svechnikova said.
