Impossible is Nothing: adidas pushes athleticism to new limits before Olympics
Forty thrill-seeking athletes soar to the finish line on Asia’s first 100-metre vertical track.
On Saturday adidas launched the world’s first vertical track event in Hong Kong and Osaka, adidas Impossible Sprint, to
ignite the Impossible is Nothing spirit of sport across Asia Pacific in the Olympic year. This innovative event tests
the limits of athleticism and challenges pre-conceived notions of the limits of the physical world – never before has
the world seen such a challenge to human physical ability.
The adidas Impossible Sprint requires athletes to defy the laws of gravity by racing vertically up a 100-metre track set
perpendicular to the earth against skyscraper. Scores of thrill-seeking men and women from all walks of life have
undertaken stringent training in preparation for the event, in Beijing, Hong Kong, Osaka and Taipei. The best forty have
been selected to compete in the adidas Impossible Sprint events in Hong Kong and Osaka. These courageous athletes are
young and old, police officers, engineers, clerks, journalists and students, brought together by a shared passion for
sport and the heart to overcome all obstacles, even those that seem impossible.
Christophe Bezu, Senior Vice-President of adidas Region Asia Pacific officiated the event in Hong Kong, firing the
starter’s gun before the athletes soared to the finish line in the best time of seven minutes and forty-two seconds by
forty-five year-old Chong Shun Chung from Hong Kong.
“Passion for sport and product innovation are the two key elements that drive adidas to be the leading sports brand in
the world,’ commented Christophe Bezu. “This event is an extension of adidas’ long history of challenging the impossible
based on the attitude shared by athletes around the world. It complements the spirit of Asian sportsmanship and to
inspire athletes to redefine limits of performance.”
While the world’s premier athletes are setting records in Athens, this group of Asia’s most heroic athletes is achieving
the impossible in two separate competitions. The second preliminary heat of this electrifying event will jumpstart in
Hong Kong and Osaka on August 15. Sixteen athletes will move on to the semifinals on August 21 in Hong Kong and August
22 in Osaka. The Hong Kong final will be held on August 22 and the Osaka final on August 28. Corresponding with the 2004
Olympic Games in Athens, the event will illustrate and amplify each city’s exhilaration in the Olympic Games and the
spirit of sport by testing strength, courage and endurance, the willingness of the participants to defeat the impossible
and the belief that Impossible is Nothing.
Impossible is Nothing is adidas’ yearlong brand campaign capturing both the essence of what adidas stands for and the
spirit of sport in the Olympic year. Impossible is Nothing is the passion for sports that pushes us beyond our limits.
“adidas has been a part of the Olympic Movement ever since our founder Adi Dassler produced his first pair of sprint
spikes for an Olympic athlete back in 1928. No other brand has been so closely associated with so many athletes over so
many years as adidas,” added Christophe Bezu.
adidas underlines its competence as an Olympic brand at the Athens Olympic Games by offering 4,000 athletes three-stripe
outfits and supplying products for 26 out of the 28 sports.