Two Crucial Agreements for the Swedish Winter Sports Research Centre | 2011 |
The success of the Swedish national team in cross-country skiing at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver made curious gazes turn to Östersund. What was it that we did up here that yielded such results? The attention led to two major agreements for the Swedish Winter Sports Research Centre – and it paved the way for even more medals.
The Swedish Winter Sports Research Centre (SWSRC) and the Swedish Olympic Committee (SOC) had worked together on testing since 2004, but in 2011, the partnership was formalized through an agreement concerning investments in research and development in performance sports. SOC wanted SWSRC to be the Swedish development centre for winter sports – and through its research, achieve even greater results at the upcoming Sochi Winter Olympics (you do remember the shower of medals from there?)
– The agreement means that we work in close proximity with the sponsors and partners of SOC and the Swedish Ski Association. Among other things, CRAFT used our competence to create the skiers’ racing outfits for the Winter Olympics in both Vancouver and Sochi, and in 2014, SOC’s clothing sponsor H&M began a close collaboration with SWSRC, says Professor HC Holmberg at SWSRC.
Just a few months after the agreement with SOC was signed, the municipality of Östersund also decided to invest heavily in a collaboration with Mid Sweden University and SWSRC during the period 2011-2014. The investment of the municipality made it possible to employ more researchers, publish more articles, work even more closely with the cross-country and alpine skiers, and increase the collaboration with trade and industry. Let the success story continue!