OMEGA et les JO jusqu’en 2020

Friday 25 September 2009

OMEGA, whose official Olympic timekeeping legacy dates back to the Los Angeles Games in 1932, has signed a new agreement with the International Olympic Committee which extends the partnership through the 2020 Olympic Games.

The announcement was made and the agreement signed at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne on 25 September 2009. IOC President Jacques Rogge was joined by Nicolas G. Hayek Sr., the Chairman of the Swatch Group; Nick Hayek Jr., the Group’s CEO; and Stephen Urquhart, the President of OMEGA.
The signing ceremony and press conference began when Mr. Rogge and Mr. Hayek Sr. rang one of the Olympic bells used to signal the beginning of a final lap in the longer sporting competitions.
In his opening comments, Jacques Rogge welcomed the guests and members of the press and announced immediately that the partnership had been extended. He talked about the evolution of Olympic timekeeping prior to OMEGA’s assuming the role, pointing out that through 1928, timekeepers had used their personal watches and the final results were often delayed by bargaining and indecision.
"So the IOC wanted to find a good company and of course they found OMEGA. Since then, we have had an excellent relationship," Rogge said. He added, "One of the most important things about exact timekeeping provides the universal value of sport. One hundred metres in 9.58 seconds means the same thing to everyone, everywhere in the world."
Referring to Michael Phelps’s hundredth of a second margin of victory in the 100-metre butterfly in Beijing, Rogge said, "Good timekeeping is also a level of fairness to the athletes because competitions can be decided by very narrow margins. The IOC has a zero tolerance for doping and we likewise share a zero fault philosophy for timekeeping with OMEGA."
Jacques Rogge drew laughter when he said, "OMEGA has given us a valuable tool – they always install a Countdown Clock in every Olympic city. I am relieved to know that the organizer from Sochi (who was in attendance at the press conference) wakes up every morning and sees that the time is almost here."
Nicolas G. Hayek pointed out that he had been a witness to the last thirty years of the Olympic Games. "We don’t have a commercial commitment," he said, "we have an emotional one. We are ready to do everything to help this movement."
Nick Hayek Jr. echoed his father’s sentiments, saying, "The Olympic Games are fixed points where everyone is working toward one objective. The ones who organize it and the ones who participate in it are all dedicated to the best possible outcomes."

Mr. Hayek Jr. put the importance of OMEGA’s new agreement in perspective when he said, "These days, everyone is uncertain, even about the next six months. Here we are all, based on the experiences we’ve shared in the past, concluding an agreement for the next ten years. This sends an incredibly positive signal."
Stephen Urquhart said that OMEGA’s partnership with the IOC, along with its partnership with NASA’s lunar landings, had an enormously strong impact on the brand. "We have done this 23 times now," he said, "and in Vancouver we are looking forward to the same emotional approach we’ve had previously. We thank the IOC sincerely for the chance to continue this incredible partnership."
Mr. Urquhart compared OMEGA’s Olympic Timekeeping beginnings in 1932 with the most recent Games in Beijing. "In Los Angeles, we had thirty chronograph stopwatches and one watchmaker who showed the judges how to use them. In Beijing in 2008, we had more than four hundred tonnes of equipment – but the objective has remained unchanged: the flawless timekeeping of the world’s best athletes."
Mr. Urquhart then announced that four of the thirty stopwatches used to time the Games in Los Angeles had been kept in the OMEGA Museum in Bienne. "We had four pieces that have survived the 77 years. Today we’d like to mark this very important day by presenting one of the four pieces to President Rogge."
Jacques Rogge said, "All of us at the IOC are very touched. This will have a place of honour in our Museum here. Also," he added with a smile, "it will be useful for me – it will enable me to reset the administration of the IOC."
After the presentation, the new contract was signed, ensuring that OMEGA will continue its Official Olympic Timekeeping role through the 2020 Games.

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