RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, Dec. 09, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Once again, track and field athletes will have Mondo underfoot during the world’s biggest competition—the Olympic Games. An agreement signed this week between the Rio 2016 Organizing Committee and Mondo S.p.A. makes Mondo the official supplier for athletic tracks and equipment for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.
“We could not have made a better choice,” said Agberto Guimarães, sports executive director of the Rio 2016 Organising Committee. “We put our full trust in Mondo because their tracks are the best we could wish to guarantee great performances, safety for athletes and a memorable event for spectators.”
Rio will be the 11th Olympics for Mondo, the global leader in the track and field, indoor sport and contract flooring markets. The company began its participation in the Games at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. It became the official supplier of athletic tracks and the competition surface beginning with the 1992 Barcelona Game and has been the competition surface for every Olympics since then. During the London 2012 Games, Mondo supplied equipment and surfaces for over 16 sports.
“This is a great show of faith in our company,” said Maurizio Stroppiana, general manager of Mondo's Sport & Flooring Division. “It recognizes our long-term commitment, which is something that is particularly appreciated in Brazil. Mondo has been operating in Brazil since 1987; thanks to its engagement in the country alongside the local distributor Playpiso Pisos Esportivos LTDA, it gained the respect of the local federations of government bodies.”
In almost 30 years of activity in Brazil, Mondo and Playpiso have installed more than 70 athletic tracks, which is almost 80 percent of the total market. Noteworthy Brazilian competitions held on Mondo tracks include the Pan Am Games in Rio in 2007 and the 5th World Military games in Rio in 2011.
A new track, Mondotrack WS, developed in Mondo’s laboratory specifically for the Rio Olympics, will be completed and installed for the 2016 Games.
Other international track and field competitions that were held on Mondo tracks in 2015 include:
- The IAAF/BTC World Relays, which were in Nassau, Bahamas, May 2-3;
- The first European Games, which took place in Baku, Azerbaijan, June 12-28;
- The Pan Am Games, which were held in Toronto, July 10-26; and
- The IAAF World Championships, which commenced in Beijing’s National Stadium (the Bird’s Nest), Aug. 22-30.
More than 250 world records have been set on Mondo’s tracks.
About Mondo
Mondo is the global leader in the track and field, indoor sport and contract flooring markets, manufacturing flooring surfaces for virtually every application. More than 1,100 Mondo tracks and millions of square feet of the company’s high-performance athletic surfaces are installed worldwide.
An official supplier of athletic tracks for the past 10 Olympic Games and the competition surface since the 1992 Barcelona Games, Mondo also is the official supplier or sponsor of more than 100 sports federations and associations.
A family-owned business since its founding in 1948, the company sells its products in more than 196 countries through Mondo-owned manufacturing companies in Italy, Luxembourg, Spain and China. For news updates, visit mondoworldwide.com and like the Mondotrack USA Facebook page and the Mondo USA Facebook page.
Mondo is a registered trademark of Mondo.