CONGRATULATIONS: Simone Biles signs a new contract worth $370 million with…. Full Details
USA Gymnastics athletes will be equipped by Nike through the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, the company said Thursday, announcing the largest-ever partnership in USA Gymnastics’ history as fan-favorite gymnast Simone Biles prepares to compete for the first time since walking out on the 2021 Tokyo games.
KEY FACTS
Nike will serve as the official apparel and footwear partner of USA Gymnastics and the USA Gymnastics national team, producing all shoes and sportswear for the men’s and women’s national teams as they prepare for the Olympic games in 2024 and 2028.
Starting in 2025, the partnership will expand to include all national team leotards and competition wear for international events—the first time the Nike swoosh will appear on USA Gymnastics leotards.
USA Gymnastics teams compete in as many as 20 international events each year, including the World Championships, Gymnastics Team Trials and the Olympics.
Nike sponsors all of the team uniforms for the NFL and MLB; the United States men’s and women’s national teams in baseball, basketball and soccer and is also the US Olympic Committee sponsor, among other partnerships.
WHAT WE DON’T KNOW
What the deal is worth. Nike did not elaborate on the value of the partnership.
KEY BACKGROUND
The partnership comes a month after Biles, the most decorated gymnast in the history of the Gymnastics World Championships, announced she’ll compete for the first time since she walked out on the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, citing problems with her mental health. Biles will participate in the single-day U.S. Classic event on Saturday in Illinois, competing against Olympic hopefuls Jade Carey, Skye Blakely, Jordan Chiles and Leanne Wong.
The U.S. Classic is a qualifier for Nationals, which are used alongside the U.S. Olympic Trials—to be held next June—to select the nation’s Olympic team. Biles famously left Nike, her longtime sponsor, in 2021 in favor of women’s clothing brand Athleta. She said Athleta, a subsidiary of Gap, stands “for everything that I stand for” in the wake of several scandals surrounding how Nike treats its female employees and sponsored athletes, the New York Times reported.
In its announcement of the USA Gymnastics partnership deal Thursday, Nike said a “specific focus will be placed on building a culture of belonging in the sport.”