MIT products shine at Rio Olympics

2016/08/16

Taiwan-made products such as soccer balls, athletic shoes and golf bags being used by many of the world’s greatest athletes at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio De Janeiro are boosting the visibility of Taiwan’s multi-billion-dollar sports equipment industry. Usain Bolt, the fastest man in the world, set an Olympic record Aug. 14 by claiming his third consecutive gold medal in the 100-meter sprint, and he did it wearing MIT shoes. When Bolt won gold at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, the insole reinforcements in his Puma track shoes were made by Ever-Tech Co. in central Taiwan’s Taichung City. He wore Puma track shoes again in Rio, but this time they were entirely made by the Pou Chen Group, a Taiwan firm that is one of the largest footwear manufacturers in the world. The special soccer balls designed for the Rio Olympics were made by Long-Way Enterprise Co. in northern Taiwan’s New Taipei City in cooperation with Adidas. It took Long-Way three years to perfect a robot-assisted stitching method that keeps the balls tight and round despite the humidity of Brazil and the wear of gameplay. This year marks the first time golf has been an official Olympic sport since 1904, and 70 percent of the golf bags used in the event are made by Taiwan’s Zonson Sports Corp. under the brand name Vessel. According to David Shaw, chairman of Zonson, “All the flagship bags of the world’s best-known brands are manufactured at our factory.” They are used by some of the world’s best players, such as Tiger Woods, he said, and are a prime example of the nation’s manufacturing strength.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=247003&ctNode=2194&mp=9)