July 15, 2004 – Although all eyes are focused on the Tour de France at this moment, the Olympics in Athens are approaching rapidly. The best cyclists of the world will be there to compete for the medals at the Olympic road racing, mountain biking and track racing events.

We noticed that a lot of riders selected for the Olympic Games are using Shimano road shoes. Shimano will offer these participants a special Olympic edition of our top-level road cycling shoes SH-R215. The Olympic edition shoes are being produced in silver combined with a colour matching the national colours of the racers’ countries. Furthermore, the straps of the shoes carry the flag of the riders’ home country. Each pair of these Shimano Olympic shoes is unique and they will not be available in the market.

Details often make the difference in between winning and losing. We hope that these special Olympic edition shoes give our sponsored riders just that little bit of extra morale and strength to win the gold.

Please see the attached picture of the Olympic edition shoes for your reference.

Shimano carries out neutral technical support during the Olympics

Shimano takes the responsibility for the neutral technical support during the Olympic road racing, mountain biking and track racing events. We will be present in Athens with over 25 people and four cars, one motorcycle and the Shimano truck to support the Olympic participants and teams with all technical assistance they might need.

Headquarters of Team Shimano during the Olympics will be at the premises of Nikos Maniatopoulos S.A., our official Shimano distributor in Greece. Address is Syggrou Ave. 217 in Athens, its approximately 1 km from the Acropolis and the cycling road race course in Athens Centre. Teams will be invited in between the races to meet us there if they need technical assistance. During the races, Shimano will be present with the neutral assistance cars and motorcycle to help the riders as best as possible.

Although we are limited in our possibilities to carry and promote the Shimano logo during the Olympics, we feel its our responsibility as market leader to support and promote the cycling sport at such an important event.

Shimano, official partner of the UCI, already has a lot of experience in providing neutral technical support during important road racing, mountain biking and track racing events such as World Championships in all categories, MTB World Cups, Vuelta a España, Giro d’Italia and classic road races. But of course the Olympics are something special and we are looking forward to it!