Speaking at a media round table on the day before the Games' opening ceremony Herbert Hainer, CEO and chairman of Adidas AG added that Adidas is now the top sportswear brand in China.

"Our tremendous sales performance in China in the first six months of this year underlines our position as the fastest-growing sporting goods company in this dynamic market," he said.

In the first half of 2008, Adidas_Group sales in China rose by more than 60% on a currency-neutral basis. And Hainer expects the "visibility and excitement" generated for its brands during the Olympic Games "will create a halo effect sustaining the momentum of our Group in this market well into the future."

At the end of 2007, the Adidas Group operated 4,800 stores in China and is planning to take that number to 5,900 stores in 2008 - with 5,000 Adidas stores and 900 Reebok stores.

By 2010 this number is expected to increase to 6,100 Adidas stores and 1,100 for Reebok. At the Olympics Adidas will be outfitting more than 100,000 volunteers, technical officials and staff,  3,000 athletes, 214 federations and 16 National Olympic Committees.

In total, it will be providing more than 3m pieces of product, including 43 different athletic shoes for 27 out of 28 sports.
Earlier this week, Adidas Group reported a 12% rise in second quarter profit to EUR116m (US$179.5m) as sales rose 5% to EUR2.52bn.

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