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Nike benefits from Beijing Olympics, leading China's sports market

By Yu Tianyu (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-21 15:01

Mark Parker, president and CEO of Nike, highly praised the Beijing Olympic Games in an exclusive interview with China Daily yesterday.

"I’m very impressed and inspired to see the creativity being involved from the opening ceremony all the way through the Olympic Games," said Mark Parker, "And I'm also very proud of NIKE's involvement of the games, in particular working with the athletes and bring our innovations to them." 

Nike has sponsored 22 out of the 28 Chinese sports federation that participate in this year's Olympics, while Nike also supports individual athletes performing in the Olympics, such as track idol Liu Xiang. 

The Olympics has helped the boom of China's sports market, and Nike is grabbing the attention and trust of Chinese consumers with its latest innovations widely used by Chinese athletes, from which Nike benefits to secure the leading position in China’s sports market. 

China, currently the company's second-largest market next to US, is also Nike's largest sourcing country and the fastest-growing market. According to Mark Parker, Nike is 33 percent bigger than its next competitor in China -- German brand Adidas AG -- and is committed to cementing its position as it grows on a long-term basis within that country of 1.3 billion consumers.