South Africa will be well represented at the Olympic Games this summer, with 137 athletes heading to Rio. But it’s not just the athletes that are Brazil-bound. South African brand SwiftCarbon will be hitting the streets too, ridden by some of the most talented athletes in the world, in the sports calendar’s biggest and most important test of fitness, form and resolve.
Four years of training, preparation and sacrifice all has come to a head for three special athletes, representing South Africa, Canada and Japan, in the men’s triathlon, women’s triathlon and women’s road TT respectively. Henri Schoeman, Sarah-Anne Brault and Eri Yonamine will pilot special edition bikes – Schoeman and Brault on Hypervox aero road bikes and Yonamine a Neurogen TT bike.
Henri Schoeman’s Swift Hypervox.
Founder Mark Blewett says, “The bike industry might be a tough business to be in, but it suddenly all feels worth it when you see such bright talents riding our bikes at the highest possible level.”
Eri Yonamine’s Swift Neurogen
Yonamine, 25, is the current Japanese National Time Trial Champion, Sarah-Anne, 26, is a former ITU Pan-Am Cup winner and 24-year-old Henri is a multiple ITU African champion and Commonwealth Games silver medalist.
The designs are themed around the countries’ flags that they’ll be flying, and were hand painted in Cape Town by Jared Mahaffey of BMC. “It was a tricky job, very intricate, but of course quite an honour doing it. I hope they like them.”
Sarah-Anne Brault’s Swift Hypervox in the spray booth.
“For any athlete building up to the Olympics, it’s tunnel vision for months, and a special frame helps lift the morale a little,” says Blewett. “When her frame arrived in Japan, Eri burst into tears, and Sarah-Anne got pretty jealous when she saw Henri’s bike, all built up and ready. I really can’t wait to see them out on the course!”
Road TT women: August 10, 2016
Triathlon men: August 18, 2016
Triathlon women: August 20, 2016
Frames look awesome!
Well done on a great job and supporting Henri Schoeman!
I was wondering if their are specific rules at the Olympics regarding the frames and advertising.
At London games alot of the bikes were red and branding was minimal.