THE Philippine Olympic Committee said the failure to provide golfers Bianca Pagdanganan and Dottie Ardina their official uniforms for the Paris Olympics is an isolated case and beyond its control.
In a statement, the POC assured that all athletes in the Olympics, including Pagdanganan and Ardina, were well taken care off despite the uniform issue that arose in the final days of the Games.
The POC also cited that the controversy stemmed from the disapproval of the initial uniform design of Adidas, the official apparel supplier of the Olympic team, by the International Olympic Committee.
Due to the initial disapproval, the POC was forced to ship the uniforms to Paris, but the release was subsequently delayed after it was held by the French customs.
A video of Ardina complaining about their lack of official uniform during the Olympic Games recently went viral. The video also showed Ardina sticking a Philippine flag patch into her uniform using a double adhesive tape.
“Adidas, Paris Olympics official Apparel Sponsor of the Philippine delegation, sent an initial set of apparel for the golf team prior the start of the competition for approval of the IOC. Unfortunately, it was disapproved, hence, the immediate change of golf apparel was sent a week prior to the opening,” the POC statement read.
“Several boxes of apparel containing competition gear were sent through courier directly to Paris. However, the French customs held the package carrying the competition gear and despite the best efforts made by the officials, the gear was not released in time,” the same statement also said.
The POC added that an arrangement was eventually made for the golfers to purchase their Adidas gears in Paris, but Pagdanganan and Ardina decided to wear their own.
The POC sent photos of Pagdanganan and Ardina wearing the Adidas apparel it purchased in Paris to media outlets.
“Moreover, sets of competition gear were arranged to be produced locally in Paris. During the practice rounds, Ms. Pagdanganan wore the Adidas apparel, while Ms. Ardina wore the competition uniform during the first round.
“However, during the succeeding rounds, the athletes opted to wear their personal attire with the positive impression of sporting the Philippine flag, which our Pinay athletes managed to improvise,” said the POC.
The POC denied accusations of corruption since no money was involved in the agreement between the Olympic body and adidas.
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