All proceeds will go to the British
Olympic Association and British Paralympic Association and it is hoped
it will raise up to £10million for the athletes.
The
cotton voile scarves feature the Team GB logo or the British Paralympic
Association logo on a background of more than 2,000 black ‘hieroglyphs’
– symbols representing the Olympic sports and London.
Flying the flag: Five-time Olympic gold medal
rower Sir Steve Redgrave, Olympic silver medalist Sharron Davies and
para-equestrian Lee Pearson unveil the two designs of scarves at the
Saatchi Gallery in London yesterday
The symbols include 900 figures
to represent the 900 Team GB and Paralympics GB athletes, 900 hearts ‘to
express the nation’s special love’, 900 stars ‘to recognise that every
one of our athletes is a true star’ and 60 hands to symbolise 60million
GB supporters.
English
roses, Welsh daffodils, Northern Irish flax and Scottish thistles also
feature on the heavily-patterned scarf as well as national landmarks and
the date of the opening ceremony.
The
scarf has been described as ‘an iconic memento of the London 2012
Games’ and the BOA has agreed for Olympic sponsor Next to manufacture an
initial run of 500,000 scarves.
Adidas, another sponsor, will have its logo on the scarves and help sell them through its outlets.
The
scarves are one of two pieces of Olympic merchandise which the BOA are
allowed to keep net profits from, following an agreement with the London
2012 organising committee.
Rich tapestry: The cotton voile scarves feature the Team GB logo or the
British Paralympic Association logo on a background of more than 2,000
black ‘hieroglyphs’ – symbols representing the Olympic sports and London
The second item, a ‘collectable’ produced in partnership with BP, will be launched at the end of May.
The
association has spent more than two years working on the design for the
scarves, which come with a letter from five-time gold medallist Sir
Steve Redgrave, encouraging people to ‘wear it, wave it and help Team GB
WIN with it!’
The BOA hopes to sell at least one
million of the scarves, which some have described as looking like tea
towels, in an attempt to mirror the success of the 2010 Vancouver winter
Olympics – where 4.3m pairs of red mittens were sold, raising millions
for the organising committee.
BOA chief executive Andy Hunt said the scarves were vital for building support for the games.
He
said: ‘We would love it to be a massive success. Here is an item you
can take to show you have gone out and supported the team.’
The
scarves will be available online WHEN and in Next stores from May – but
may not be on sale in any of the official London 2012 merchandise
stores in Olympic venues, due to a row between the BOA and Locog, which
controls the shops.
The BOA
will have to share profits from any sales in initial shops with Locog,
which needs merchandise income to meet the £2.2bn running costs of the
Games.
The BOA also
announced that it will be opening a museum close to the main stadium and
aquatic centre in the Olympic Park after the Games. The £10m project
will celebrate London’s status as the only city to have hosted the
Olympics three times, and could include memorabilia from every member of
Team GB at this summer’s event.
8:19 PM
Shweta Pandey
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