“Quality in all respects”
Olympic Games 2024 in Paris
The 2024 Olympic Summer Games will take place in Paris from July 26 to August 11. Bauerfeind will be a part of it as a supplier. Jörg Ritzerfeld, Marketing Manager Bauerfeind Sports and Head of our Olympic projects, explains which four people gave the deciding presentations in Paris in December and what the next steps are.
Jörg, Bauerfeind is a supplier for Paris 2024. What does that mean exactly?
It means that the OCOG, the Organizational Committee for Paris 2024, will be buying our products and services. Exclusively! But we won’t have any marketing rights. So we’ll send our products to Paris and take care of injured athletes at the polyclinic in the Olympic village with a Bauerfeind team. We’re still not allowed to advertise with the Olympic Rings because we’re not sponsors.
It’s less than 200 days until the Opening Ceremony in Paris. Why has everything taken such a long time?
It really was the longest tender phase we’ve had for any Olympic Games. Even though we made first contact with the OCOG in 2021. As is well known, its plans didn’t go smoothly either so it wasn’t until September 2023 that the OCOG published the tender for our category. We had to respond to the catalog of questions quickly then, so I would like to thank the many departments that supported us! That was amazing team work.
On December 18, a Bauerfeind delegation went to Paris for the presentations. Who was part of that?
It was four of us that visited the OCOG: Katharina Dietrich, our Chief Technical Officer, Philippe Chenaie, Manager of our subsidiary in France, Maximilian Poetzschner, Head of Product Management Orthopedics, and I took the train from Erfurt to Paris.
What convinced the OCOG to choose Bauerfeind as a supplier?
We offer precisely what the French want: a portfolio that covers everything. An experienced team, technical expertise, and our quality in all respects. Furthermore, the OCOG appreciates German craftsmanship, discretion, and compliance with rules. They even looked closely at our supply chains, sustainability policies, and our Code of Conduct. They were convinced by what they saw, and the French are really happy – so are we, of course.
What are the project’s next steps?
We’re making a proper start now, even if it was a little delayed. Luckily, we can use our project experience from previous Summer Games. Still, there is a lot to sort out when it comes to organization and content. Plus: we’ll need about 8,000 products. They have to be manufactured in time and be sent to Paris. In everything, we trust in the usual reliable work and help of everyone involved in the project.