Arena moves into American university sports and becomes a partner of the Auburn University swimming team

Tolentino, 26 January 2010 – Arena, one of the leading sports waterwear companies at the world-wide level, is proud to announce the signing of a four-year contract as technical equipment supplier of the Auburn University Swimming Team (the ‘Auburn Tigers’), one of the most decorated swimming teams in NCAA history and 2009 Champions.

The Auburn Men and Women’s swimming teams have continually been among the top-ranked ones in the national polls throughout the regular season leading up to the NCAA Championships. The men’s team has won 8 NCAA championship titles (2009, 2007, 2006, 2004, 2003, 2002, 1999 and 1997), while the women have captured five national titles (2007, 2006, 2004, 2003, 2002).

The Team is driven by the Head Coach Brett Hawke, one of the most highly regarded swimming coaches in the world who, in the last two years, has trained great champions such as Cesar Filho Cielo (50m freestyle Olympic and world champion and 100m freestyle world champion) and the Frederic Bousquet (Olympic silver in the 4x100m freestyle, world silver and bronze in the 50m and 100m freestyle).

The outstanding athletic level and excellent champion tradition of the Auburn swimming team is confirmed by the copious presence of athletes from this University at the 2008 Olympic Games, where 16 Auburn swimmers took part, with 5 of them clocking up a record number of13 medals. Among these was Cielo, who was the first swimmer in Auburn’s history to win gold in the 50m freestyle.

In the recent past, world class swimmers have trained at Auburn including Arena endorsed athlete Eric Shanteau.

“This partnership represents an important step for our company,” said Giuseppe Musciacchio, Arena Marketing Director. “It confirms our strong commitment to be actively involved at various levels in the US swimming movement. After having recruited in our Elite Team of international swimming champions three outstanding testimonials from the United States - Aaron Peirsol, Eric Shanteau and Rebecca Soni – we strongly wanted to be also a protagonist in the American University Sports environment, to be close to those youngsters who are likely to be the big Champions of tomorrow.”  

“Arena has been a leader in technological advancements in swimwear for many years.  When I looked around the pool deck in Beijing (2008 Olympics) and Rome (2009 World Championships), most of the great champions were wearing Arena.  At that point I decided there was only one company that was able to match the level of excellence that Auburn University has achieved in swimming.  That was Arena” Head Coach and Olympic coach, Brett Hawke said.

In the month of February, the Auburn swimming team will be involved in a series of meets and the Missouri Grand Prix that will take the team to the Southeastern Conference finals. Following conference competition, those who qualified will participate in the NCAA Championships. The women will compete in West Lafayette, Ind., March 19-21, while the men travel to Columbus, Ohio, March 25-27.

Arena is distributed in the United States by Arena Swim USA, controlled by the Gathering Storm Group, based in Carlsbad, California.