So the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics is going on now. American swimmer Michael Phelps is once again making headlines. God bless that man. Fiji also won its first-ever gold medal, so congratulations to them. There are so many storylines going on in the Olympics that it’s hard to keep up. So I’m ditching it all entirely to focus on what this whole story is all about. This is about something that’s been going on for quite a while now, but not a lot of people, at least those who watch the spectacle of the Olympics as fans, are even aware of. This is about how some of today’s most finely-conditioned athletes have found unlikely partners to help them prepare for the Olympics. This is about the Olympians and the world’s automakers and the growing partnership between the two sides to create the perfect Olympic athlete.
On the surface, it sounds a little too Terminator-ish, right? It might even sound like somebody’s idea of a B-rated sci-fi movie. But all joking aside, this is all real. Automakers have, for quite some time now, in fact, helped train Olympic athletes using whatever technology is available to find the right kind of edge that can propel athletes to the top step of the medal podium.
Take BMW for instance. We reported the other day that the German automaker is helping the U.S. swimming team improve their techniques that they can utilize in the Olympics.
Judging by how the team has done in Rio so far – all together, it has won 34 total medals, including 21 gold medals – it’s easy to surmise that the assistance the U.S. swimming team has received from BMW has helped the team in a lot of respects.
Here’s the interesting part. The U.S. swimming team’s partnership with BMW isn’t the only athlete-automaker collaboration that will be put to the test in the 2016 Rio Olympics. Other automakers have been doing it too and for this Olympics, a certain Czech brand is helping its own cyclist prepare for his event.
Continue after the jump to read the full story.
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