BRUSSELS—Bridgestone Corp. is extending its support for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024 through a series of innovation projects in collaboration with adaptive athletes.
The Paralympic Games will be held Aug. 28 – Sept. 8 in Paris.
A Worldwide Paralympic Partner since 2018, Bridgestone has been working with adaptive athletes and community non-profit partners to help create more equitable access to adaptive sports activities.
Bridgestone said it is now expanding those efforts by leveraging its rubber, materials and design expertise to help enhance rubber components for certain adaptive sports equipment. The list of rubber- related pieces that will be used by select athletes in Paris includes gloves for multiple sports, hand rims for wheelchair racing and tires for wheelchair tennis.
In a recent survey commissioned by Bridgestone Americas, 61 percent of the 249 respondents said it is difficult for them to find or source the adaptive sports equipment and accessories they need.
Bridgestone has worked with a variety of Team Bridgestone athlete ambassadors to identify where its tire and rubber expertise could help enhance aspects of adaptive sports equipment.
Bridgestone collaborated with Paralympic athletes in the U.S. and Japan to develop pieces like pads for wheelchair racing gloves, wheelchair rugby gloves, rubber hand rims for wheelchairs, rubber soles for prosthetic running blades and wheelchair tennis tires.
Several Team Bridgestone athlete ambassadors will be competing with some of Bridgestone's rubber equipment at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, including Aoki, Aaron Pike, Daniel Romanchuk and Susannah Caroni (para athletics), Manami Tanaka (wheelchair tennis) and Yukako Hata (para triathlon).
