• by Tanya Gazdik , June 29, 2017

Bridgestone Tires has chosen five Team USA athletes on the road to the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018.

Nathan Chen (figure skating), Elana Meyers Taylor (bobsled), Amy Purdy (para snowboarding), Evan Strong (para snowboarding) and Ashley Wagner (figure skating) join Team Bridgestone USA to represent the company around its first Winter Games. 

Team Bridgestone athletes are selected based on criteria related to the company’s core values, their personal stories, performance attributes and community involvement. Each athlete will receive financial support and access to cutting-edge Bridgestone products and technologies. As brand ambassadors, they also will participate in community, customer and employee activities leading up to and during next year’s games.

The athletes already have a combined five Olympic and Paralympic medals. 

 “These athletes embody what it means to ‘Be Bridgestone’,” said Gordon Knapp, CEO and president, Bridgestone Americas, Inc., in a release.  “They have a drive to be the best and a commitment to performance at the highest level.”

Knapp called the athletes “incredible people with stories of passion, determination and ingenuity.”

Bridgestone is a partner of the United States Olympic Committee and U.S. Paralympics through 2024. Bridgestone also became the first Founding Partner of the Olympic Channel in August 2016, signing a four-year agreement to support the groundbreaking digital platform.

The company is also an official Worldwide TOP Partner of the International Olympic Committee. The 10-year partnership began in 2014 and will see Bridgestone serve as a Worldwide TOP Partner at the upcoming Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018, the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, where the company’s global headquarters are located, the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, and the Olympic Games 2024.