With 460 athletes and nearly as many officials descending on Paris, Australia is sending one of the world's largest delegations to the 2024 Olympic Games – and getting a team of that size and all its equipment across the globe is no mean feat. RFI went behind the scenes to meet those making sure Team Australia's kit is ready and waiting for them.
Hayden Bushell is clocking up his third summer Games as procurement manager for the Australian Olympic team – a job he is visibly proud to carry out.
He began work on the design and manufacturing of the uniforms and equipment for delegates as soon as the Tokyo Olympics wrapped up in 2021, he told RFI.
Unlike most other countries, Australia chose to order its team supplies in Asia and have everything shipped directly to France to facilitate logistics.
The nine shipping containers, containing hundreds of boxes, arrived at the end of June and the contents were housed in a municipal gymnasium on loan from the town of Suresnes, 10 kilometres west of Paris.
Aussie green and gold
In total, around 1,000 athletes and officials will be kitted out with uniforms, shoes and accessories in Australia's trademark green and gold.
"It's one of the biggest delegations Australia has ever sent overseas," Bushell says.
Of the 460 sportspeople, 256 of them are women and over 50 percent are first-timers to the Games. They will compete in 33 different sports at the Paris Olympics until 11 August.
That’s not counting the members of the Australian Paralympics team and their delegation, who have their own logistics operations.
80 items per athlete
Thanks to the latest technology, tracking the items on their journey to Paris has been relatively smooth, Bushell says, adding that the customs-free access France granted Olympic organisers made things much easier.
But other tasks have to be done manually.
To prepare each delegate's kit, Bushell recruited a team of 10 local French workers to pack around 80 items into two different sports bags – a small white suitcase for July and then a large green wheely bag for August.
Each athlete also has a special outfit for the opening and closing ceremonies, which are zipped into labelled suit bags and kept separate.
Everyone also receives a pair of Asics trainers in pale yellow and white, made from recyclable material, says Bushell. These are for wearing around the village or on the podium, if they win a medal.
At the end of the Games, the athletes and officials are free to keep their items, although some may choose to swap them with athletes from different countries or give away souvenirs to their families or fans.
"Hopefully it’s a good keepsake and a good memory that they can look back on once they retire and see all their achievements," says Bushell.
"We hope they wear it with pride and are proud to wear the green and gold."
