Czechs show off Winter Olympic team outfits

Three months ahead of the start of the winter Olympics in South Korea, the Czech Olympic team has revealed its official winter collection. The outfit in national colours, with white predominating, was created by the Czech firm Alpine Pro.

The main theme of the Czech Olympic uniform is the number 100, which commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Czechoslovak Republic. The stylised golden number will appear on all the pieces of the collection.

One of the most striking items in the collection is the double sided, white and gold jacket. It was inspired by the victory of snowboarder Eva Samková in Sochi 2014, when her team wore their jackets inside out there in order to reveal the gold lining.

Earlier this year, the team introduced the so-called Raškovka bobble hat, which commemorates the victory of the legendary ski jumper Jiří Raška at the Grenoble Winter Olympics in 1968.

The collection was tested by a number of former elite athletes, including Kateřina Neumannová, the Czech Olympic ski winner at the 2006 Olympics in Turin.

Neumannová is also one of the collection’s ambassadors, along with other contemporary or former stars of Czech sport, skipper Ondřej Synek, speed canoeist Martin Doktor or skater Tomáš Kraus.

According to an analysis carried out by the US-based Gracenote sports data provider, the Czech team is expected to be the most successful in the country’s history, bringing back nine medals from the Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang.