Arena Elite Team goes on growing with the entry of Inge Dekker

Tolentino 19 June 2009 – Inge Dekker, gold medal at Beijing in the 4x100m freestyle relay, adds to the participation of International Champions to the  Arena Elite Team. The Dutch swimmer has signed a contract by which she will have the chance to use the three-diamond company’s technical equipment for the next two years.

Inge Dekker (24), a specialist in short distance freestyle (50m and 100m) and butterfly, is one of the stars in Dutch relay swimming. She is definitely a world class champion having won the gold medal in the 4 x 100m freestyle in Beijing, and having established the Olympic record of 3:33.76 a hair’s breadth away from the world record of 3:33.62 which the Dutch team set in March 2008 at the European Championships in Eindhoven.

Dekker’s sprinting talents have brought her other successes both at European and at world level. European champion in 100m butterfly in Budapest (2006), bronze at the World Championships in Melbourne (2007) and two silvers in the 50m and 100m butterfly at the European Championships in Eindhoven.

In 2006 the Dutch swimmer also achieved great results  in the short course pool (25m) with a bronze medal at the World Championships in Shanghai, and in 2008, at the World Championships in Manchester, clinching two golds in the 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle relay races with the Dutch national team.

“We are delighted that Inge Dekker is going to be a key player within the  Arena Elite Team – declared Alessandro Carpignano, General Director of Arena International Business Division. We are absolutely confident on the fact that Inge will do an excellent job as a testimonial and international ambassador for the values that Arena considers to be vital in this fantastic sport, i.e. talent, commitment, hard training, and team spirit. Apart from being an exceptional sprinter, Inge is a  key element of Dutch relay team  that in the last few years has clocked up outstanding results at world level. Inge is also very well known and highly regarded in Holland, a strategic market for us, where she will be centre-stage in our communication activities”.

“I’m very happy to be an Arena-athlete for the coming two years. Arena has a great track record in fast swimsuits of the highest quality. The current suits I have tested gave me a good feeling. I’m looking forward to swim in Arena suits this weekend and in the future, especially at the Worlds in Rome this summer.”

Dekker will be wearing Arena at the Open De Paris which will be held from June 19^th  to 21 ^th  at the prestigious  Paris Racing Lagardere Club, where she will swim the 50, 100 and 200m freestyle, as well as the 50 and 100m butterfly.

In the Arena Elite Team, alongside the Dutch swimmer Inge Dekker, we find the French champion Alain Bernard (26), gold medal in the 100 freestyle, silver medal in the 4x100m relay and bronze medal in the 50m freestyle at the Beijing Olympics, the American Aaron Peirsol, gold medal in the 100 backstroke and4x100 Relay Medley and silver medal in 200m Backstroke at Beijing ,  the Brazilian Cesar Cielo (22), gold medal in the 50m freestyle and bronze medal in the 100m freestyle also at Beijing, the Hungarian  Laszlo Cseh (24), three time silver medallist at Beijing (200, 400 medley and 200 butterfly), and European record holder in all three cited disciplines, the Serb Milorad Cavic (25), Olympic silver medal and European record holder in 100m fly, the Norwegian Alexander Dale Oen (23), silver medal in Beijing and European record holder in 100m breaststroke, the German Paul Biedermann, European champion in the 200m freestyle, the Swede Stefan Nystrand, bronze medal at the Melbourne world championships in 2007,  the South Africans Roland Schoeman, Olympic champion at Athens in the 4x100m relay (2004) and twice world champion in the 50m fly at the World Championships in Montreal (2005 and at the World Championships in Melbourne (2007), Cameron van der   Burgh , world short course record holder in the 50m (25.94) and the 100m breaststroke (56.88) and Suzaan Van Biljon (21), who won the gold medal in the 200m breaststroke at the recent short course world championships in Manchester,  the Russian Yuri Prilukov (25), four time European champion in the1500 freestyle,  the Polish champions Pavel Korzeniowski (24), gold medal in the 200 fly at the World Championships in Montreal (2005) and Mateusz Sawrymowicz (22), gold medal in the 1500m freestyle at the World Championships in Melbourne (2007).

Arena is also title sponsor of the FINA ARENA Swimming World Cup, the historic partner of the LEN (Ligue Europeenne de Natation), and the technical sponsor and official supplier to many important Federations in the world scene such as Russia, Hungary, Poland, Sweden, Croatia, Norway, South Africa, New Zealand, Ukraine, Romania, Czech Republic, Belarus, Lithuania and Estonia.