Not Olympics standard?: Olympic Games chef de mission Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin defends athletes' new attire after receiving criticisms from netizens.
KUALA LUMPUR: Fans will be given the opportunity to design the attire for national athletes in the next Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028.
Paris Olympics chef de mission Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin said this following the negative feedback on the attire which was designed by Yonex for this edition.
"I spoke to Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) president Tan Sri Norza Zakaria and he agreed that we will open to the fans to come up with the design next time," said Hamidin after visiting independent women's singles shuttler Goh Jin Wei at the Bubble Sports Center in Cheras on Tuesday (June 25).
"We will choose the best design and give the winner a prize."
Hamidin went on to defend the design of the attire for the Paris showpiece.
"I read the comments from the netizens but I don't feel the design is that bad," said Hamidin.
"And if the design is very beautiful and the athletes don't win medals, then there's no point.
"We wanted to have gold colour on the attire to symbolise our aim to win the elusive gold medal. Yonex only have a few designs available and they felt that gold must be matched with black.
"Several athletes have previously said that there were too many stripes and wanted us to reduce this.
"But I admit that it was a mistake to present the attire using mannequins. We should have asked an athlete to wear the attire. It would have looked better.
"We can't change the design now and it's unnecessary. With the Olympics just 30 days away, all fans need to support our athletes instead of criticising the attire," added Hamidin.
The Olympics will be held from July 26-Aug 11.
