NIKE MACHOMAI (BOXING)

When it came to designing the specific uniforms and footwear, Nike designers worked closely with the China Olympic Committee, the Federations themselves, and their athletes. Hundreds of feet in Beijing alone were scanned to ensure designers knew the specific morphology of Chinese feet. The Nike Sports Research Lab, the NSRL, researched the most common injuries in sports from wushu to show jumping, and the department teamed up with research institutions in Beijing and Shanghai. Design teams surveyed athletes about what they did and didn’t like in their equipment. Then, Nike set to work designing footwear and uniforms, creating solutions and rethinking equipment that often hadn’t changed for years—sometimes even decades. Lightweight innovations and performance enhancing technologies like Aerographics, Flywire and Lunarlite foam are now integral elements to Nike’s pinnacle performance pieces for Beijing.