Japanese footwear and sports equipment manufacturer Asics was on Saturday named as an official partner of the IAAF, just a day after Adidas cut short its deal with track and field's governing body. Asics signed a three-year partnership that will cover all IAAF World Athletics Series events including the 2017 and 2019 world championships in London and Doha respectively. No financial details were given.
The announcement was a further boost for the IAAF, coming on the same day as president Sebastian Coe's reform package was unanimously accepted by a Special Congress in Monaco. "Global athletics starts a new chapter today based upon solid foundations of modern governance and a renewed determination to protect and promote clean athletes," said Coe.
"We are delighted to have attracted Asics, a world-class sportswear designer and manufacturer, as our latest official IAAF partner to share this new journey with us. "This agreement is a huge endorsement of a bright future for athletics whose universality and diversity makes it a natural partner for a global corporation like Asics." Asics, the deal with whom was brokered by the IAAF's long-term commercial partner Dentsu Inc, now becomes one of IAAF's five official partners alongside Canon, Seiko, TDK and Toyota, with Mondo their official supplier.
Adidas' 11-year sponsorship deal with the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) had been set to run until 2019. But the German sportswear giant backed out Friday following a corruption scandal that saw former IAAF president Lamine Diack and other top officials implicated in bribery to keep quiet failed tests by Russian athletes. Russia is in turn suspended from international athletics. Diack is currently under house arrest in France facing corruption charges. His son, Papa Missata Diack, a former IAAF marketing consultant, is in Senegal and also wanted by French authorities on charges of taking bribes from Russia.
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