Simone Biles (Gymnastics, USA), Katie Ledecky (Swimming, USA), Kanoa Igarashi (Surfing, Japan), Poppy Starr Olsen (Skateboarding, Australia), Teresa Perales (Para Swimming, Spain) and PV Sindhu (Badminton, India) join Team Visa Tokyo 2020
SAN FRANCISCO-Thursday 14 November 2019 [ AETOS Wire ]
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191113005219/en/
(BUSINESS WIRE) --
Visa (NYSE: V), the Worldwide Payment Technology Partner of the Olympic
and Paralympic Games, today announced its most diverse roster of
athletes on Team Visa Tokyo 2020. Representing 43 countries, the most in
Team Visa history, the current roster is comprised of 70+ athletes
across 30+ sports, including new additions to The Games: Surfing,
Skateboarding and Sport Climbing.
The
announcement was made at the Team Visa Summit, hosted at the company’s
San Francisco Innovation Center. The Summit offers athletes resources on
how to improve financial literacy, benefit from digital payments and
elevate their personal brand.
“As
one of the longest standing partners of the Olympic and Paralympic
Games, Visa looks forward to Tokyo 2020. Set to be the largest Games
yet, Tokyo 2020 will feature 7,000 hours of broadcast programming and
three billion minutes of streamed content,” said Chris Curtin, chief
brand and innovation marketing officer, Visa. “Our Team Visa Tokyo 2020
roster reflects The Games themselves: globally diverse, representative
of new emerging sports and larger than ever. We are proud to reveal this
year’s Team Visa roster and support these athletes as go for Gold in
Tokyo.”
The Team Visa Tokyo 2020 roster includes decorated Olympians (Simone Biles, Gymnastics, USA, Katie Ledecky, Swimming, USA, Daniel Dias, Para Swimming, Brazil and Yelyzaveta Mereshko, Para Swimming, Ukraine), World Champions (Megan Rapinoe, Football, USA, PV Sindhu, Badminton, India, Mariana Pajón, BMX, Colombia and Oksana Masters, Para Cycling, USA) and 16 first-time Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls (Kanoa Igarashi, Surfing, Japan and Poppy Starr Olsen, Skateboarding, Australia and Sean McColl, Sport Climbing, Canada, among others). View the current Team Visa roster for Tokyo 2020 here.
“I
am honored to join Team Visa and share the spirit of The Games with
these incredible athletes as we prepare for Tokyo 2020," said Simone
Biles, four-time Olympic gold medalist, Gymnastics, USA. “The
opportunity to compete on the world stage while representing our country
is truly an honor, and the encouragement and support we receive from
teammates, family, friends, fans and our partners, like Visa, really
means a lot as we pursue our lifelong goals and dreams.”
“The
Team Visa Summit is a great opportunity to meet and interact with my
peers in advance of The Games,” said Kanoa Igarashi, Surfing, Japan. “In
hoping to compete at my first Olympic Games, having a family of
athletes in Team Visa will help me feel more at home knowing I have a
sense of community by my side.”
Team Visa Tokyo 2020
Founded
in 2000, Team Visa has championed nearly 500 athletes. Each has been
selected based on athletic achievements, character and personal journey,
and are representative of many of Visa’s brand values and priorities,
including:
- Gender Equality: Since the beginning of Team Visa, on average 54% of Team Visa have been women, including the 41 women athletes for Tokyo 2020, underscoring Visa’s efforts to empower more women athletes and support the development of women’s sports.
- Social Impact: In addition to excelling in their sport, many Team Visa athletes advocate for organizations that help to positively impact their local communities. Alison Cerutti (Beach Volleyball, Brazil) has an organization in Brazil that helps give underserved children in his community access to sports, health services and more. Erick Barrondo (Athletics, Guatemala) has demonstrated a similar dedication to helping youth through a charitable race walk he and his wife started to benefit impoverished children in Guatemala.
- Small Business: Visa is a true advocate for the 30 million small businesses in the U.S. and extends that commitment to its Team Visa athletes. From 19-year-old Poppy Starr Olsen (Skateboarding, Australia), an artist and jewelry maker who has leveraged her business to fund her athletic career, to Megan Rapinoe (Football, USA), whose on-field passion is matched by a commitment to growing her purposeful fashion company, Visa is dedicated to supporting athletes in their businesses endeavors.
To learn more about Visa’s ongoing support of Olympic and Paralympic athletes, visit Visa’s Olympic partnership page.
About Visa Inc.
Visa
Inc. (NYSE: V) is the world’s leader in digital payments. Our mission
is to connect the world through the most innovative, reliable and secure
payment network - enabling individuals, businesses and economies to
thrive. Our advanced global processing network, VisaNet, provides secure
and reliable payments around the world, and is capable of handling more
than 65,000 transaction messages a second. The company’s relentless
focus on innovation is a catalyst for the rapid growth of digital
commerce on any device, for everyone, everywhere. As the world moves
from analog to digital, Visa is applying our brand, products, people,
network and scale to reshape the future of commerce. For more
information, visit About Visa, visa.com/blog and @VisaNews.
Contacts
Media Contacts:
Visa | Sheerin Salimi | shesalim@visa.com
