Bridgestone goes from Olympic rookie to IOC model

South Korea Oly ringers sing their way onto the team

NEW YORK, March 22, (Agencies): Japan’s Bridgestone Corp has gone from a rookie Olympic sponsor to a model for fan participation following their Fan Zone at the Olympic Golf Course for the 2016 Rio Games and will try to help other federations do likewise.

Bridgestone, the world’s biggest tyre maker and a long-time maker of golf equipment, set up a demonstration area for fans unfamiliar with the game in golf’s return to the Olympics, which proved to be a hit and impressed IOC officials.

“The feedback was incredible,” Phil Pacsi, Bridgestone’s vice president of sports marketing, told Reuters at The Sport Business Summit in New York on Tuesday.

“The (International Olympic Committee) were thrilled and asked us to work with them to try to help to further them in other sports as a model for other federations.”

Golf had previously not been on the Olympic program since 1904, and Brazilians were largely unfamiliar with the sport.

“The IOC, trying to do new and different things, allowed us to be one of the first experiments with having a demonstration as close to the field of play that we could, with consumer

activation with the game,” Pacsi said. “It worked great. “The focus was to try and educate the Brazilian population that really knows nothing about golf. It was really nice to see Brazilian families and kids picking up golf clubs and

we hope it makes a lasting impression on the country.”

The Fan Zone had putting areas, a long drive simulator and a closest to the pin simulator at three different bays, with local Brazilian professionals offering lessons to fans.

“That was the first time that the IOC, the (sports) federation and a (sponsorship) partner worked together to put this type of showcasing on,” said Pacsi.

“The IOC came by bringing other partners and said, ‘what can we do now?’ So we’re working to see what kind of models we can put together.”

Bridgestone is in the talking stage for plans at the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games and looking to see if there is something that can translate for the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, Pacsi said.

Meanwhile, to earn a place on South Korea’s team for next year’s Olympics, you may need to brush up on your singing.

A rendition of the national anthem in front of immigration officials is a daunting but necessary hurdle faced by the many foreign-born athletes seeking to represent the home team at the Pyeongchang Games.

Alexander Gamelin, an ice dancer from Boston, has the anthem memorized and is reading up on Korean culture and history ahead of his immigration interview. The aim is to become a naturalized citizen, then a South Korean Olympian.

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Three Russian athletes have been disqualified from the 2012 Olympics after failing doping retests, the country’s track federation said.

Hammer throwers Maria Bespalova and Gulfiya Khanafeeva, and triple jumper Viktoria Valyukevich were all disqualified. None of them were medalists.

The disqualifications of Bespalova and Khanafeeva mean all three Russian women who competed in the hammer throw in 2012 have tested positive for doping. Tatyana Lysenko was the original winner, but was stripped of her gold medal in October.