DSM will once again make its materials and ingredients know-how available to Dutch top athletes on an exclusive basis. By working together even more closely, DSM and NOC*NSF (Dutch Olympic Committee/Dutch Sports Federation) hope to enable Dutch athletes to enhance their performance during the Olympic Games. Both Turin and Beijing pose specific challenges to Dutch athletes, such as smog and a high humidity. DSM and NOC*NSF are signing their new contract today in Amsterdam. DSM was already one of the main sponsors of NOC*NSF in the period up to and including the Athens Olympics in 2004. After exploring a large number of options, the multinational has decided to sponsor the national Olympic Committee for another four-year period. This makes DSM the fourth of the six ‘Partners in Sport’ NOC*NSF intends to work with.

“Olympic sports are an ideal platform for demonstrating our company’s strengths, which lie in the development of special nutritional ingredients and special materials. In this new period of four years we will once again make innovative technologies available to Dutch athletes on an exclusive basis. But this time we hope to involve the coaches and top athletes of NOC*NSF even more closely than before in the development of innovative applications. In collaboration with NOC*NSF’s new technical director, Charles van Commenée, we will analyze the athletes’ needs and see what technologies we can use to meet these needs,” said Jan Dopper, a member of DSM’s Managing Board whose responsibilities include innovation and sponsoring. During the presentation of the new partnership Dopper suggested that a probiotic, LAFTI®, could play a role in improving the resistance and performance of the Dutch athletes. The same holds for the special DSM plastics that are currently being used in the aerospace and other industries.

NOC*NSF president Erica Terpstra welcomes the fourth Partner in Sport with great enthusiasm. “DSM is of course a familiar face, but this is a new partnership with a greater focus on innovation. We will work together more closely and gear our activities even more to the needs of our athletes and our technical staff. I am very glad we have DSM on board, because its innovations can strengthen the position of Dutch top-level sport in the international arena ,” said the former swimming champion.

Between 2000 and 2004 DSM was already a Partner in Sport of NOC*NSF. In that period DSM established itself as the key provider of innovative materials and nutritional products for the Dutch Olympic athletes. During the Athens Olympics, the Dutch rowing teams used special uniforms to protect themselves from the heat and hundreds of Dutch athletes used the special recovery enhancer PeptoPro®Sports. The new contract will build on these experiences. DSM will support NOC*NSF not only with technological know-how but also with a substantial amount of money.