This is the Dale of Norway official sweater for the Norwegian Olympic team heading to Japan this summer.
On July 23, the Tokyo Olympics will get underway, one year later than planned. Despite competing in front of no crowds, the Norwegian team will certainly look the part.
The Dale of Norway design is unmistakably Norwegian. While there are two colour designs available, it's the white version that both men and women will be wearing for Tokyo.
A summer challenge for winter specialists
Fashion house Dale of Norway have a strong association with national sporting teams. But up until now, they've been focused mostly on winter events. It's just the second time Dale has ben asked to design for the summer games.
Read more: The Marius Sweater of Norway
Since 1956, Dale has designed and produced the official sweater for Norwegian athletes at the Winter Olympics and skiing world cup events. The IOC has also previously asked Dale to design the official Winter Olympics sweater.
The design is of course more lightweight than a traditional Norwegian sweater. That lightweight style is also reflected in the simple look with both Norwegian and Japanese touches.
Norwegian design with a salute to Japanese culture
Walter Hanson is CEO of The Nordic Shop in Rochester, Minnesota. He told the Norwegian American that the designers always try to respect the host nation's culture, while still retaining a Norwegian core:
“The center point of the sweater is the Norwegian eight point rose in red, white and blue.”
“The pattern that’s coming out from that are symbols found in a Japanese Temple that stands for Luck and Good Fortune. So, they used that symbol in the whole border going around the sweater for luck and good fortune in the Games.”
Hanson added that Dale wanted a break from the more traditional look of their previous sweaters, introducing a modern look that reflected Japanese modernism while still making something that was clearly Norwegian:
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“I think they came up with a good solution for that. The design is extremely well thought out. It still has the ideal Norway look to it, but it’s definitely different. You’re not going to mistake it for something else.”
If you don't like the Tokyo sweater, there's not long to wait for another! The Winter Olympics in Beijing are set to take place in February, 2022, with another design on its way.
Norway at the Tokyo Olympics
Known for its success at the Winter Games, Norway nevertheless holds some medal hopes for the summer edition.
Most notably, Karsten Warholm is the world's top-ranked 400 metre hurdler. Having just broken the world record in Norway, Warholm is a hot favourite to take Gold in Tokyo.
20-year-old Jakob Ingebrigtsen is another favourite for his discipline, in his case the 1,500 metres. He will also compete in the 5,000 metres.
The women's handball team will hope to at least reach the final after losing to Russia in the 2016 semi-finals. They start the tournaments as favourite for Gold. The men's team will also hope to take a medal.
Finally, Norway is hardly synonymous with beach volleyball, yet that hasn't stopped Anders Mol and Christian Sørum being Gold favourites for Tokyo. They will hope to shrug off recent injury concerns to deliver on their billing.
Always enjoy your News of Norway and found the information on Dale of Norway and their sweater designs for the upcoming Olympics very beautiful. Wouldn’t mind having one for myself. My Norwegian sweaters are the most admired by my friends.
I think when Dale made the decision a little over decade ago to move into novelty yarns and away from the old standards Heilo, Falk, Freestyle, Kolibri, etc. , that it was bad for business. I know there are tens of thousands of knitters here in the US want to make the traditional Norwegian sweaters, especially the Olympic ones. Then the big blow- no more distribution of knitting yards or patterns here in 2016. Please think about reversing that decision and bring back our beloved Dale products for hand knitters!