Greg Rutherford blasts ‘ridiculous’ British kit for world championships
The Olympic long jump champion Greg Rutherford has made a series of stinging criticisms of the redesigned British vest for the World Athletics Championships, which begin in Beijing next week, calling the new kit “ridiculous and wrong” because it omits the famous Union flag.
Not since 1997 has a British athletics competition vest for a major championships not carried the traditional red, white and blue flag somewhere in its design. And Rutherford, who is among the most popular and forthright members of the squad, believes that is a major mistake and says that every athlete he has spoken to agrees with him.
After tweeting a picture of the new kit on Thursday afternoon, Rutherford called the decision “stupid” and jokingly threatened to bring British vests with the flag stitched on it to Beijing with him. “I’m proud to be British, so this is a terrible choice,” he said. “If I could take a flag-loaded British kit with me for everyone I would. This new kit is ridiculous. It isn’t a British kit anymore. It’s promoting British Athletics the company.”
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/aug/13/greg-rutherford-british-kit-union-flag-world-athletics-championships