BUFFALO, N.Y. — “To know that this team is weighing their performance on our products, it’s a lot to take in.”
It’s an unlikely partnership when Luanne DiBernardo thinks about it.
“I knew nothing about sailing except I wanted to do it," DiBernardo said.
The US Sailing team is teaming up with her company Oro Sports, with the company providing their signature cooling vest to the sailing athletes for team USA.
“It had to look good, feel good, and perform better than anything in the marketplace," DiBernardo said.
“This (cold pack) is put into every pocket. They are custom sized for each garment. So this goes down the front and then another one goes the back. The more contact you have with the cooling pack the easier it is for your body heat to transfer and into the pack.”
“This why the US Sailing team is not going into the Paris games without it," DiBernardo said.
Exactly the solution the US sailing team was looking for just months ahead of the Tokyo Games in 2021.
“It was a good kind of hectic," DiBernardo recalled. “It came from a great need, the heat in Tokyo was so projected to be so hot that I think all the US athletes were getting nervous about how they were going to perform.”
The vests were used pre-race and post-race. DiBernardo says they gave the Team USA athletes "a competitive edge."
With the team, the vests were a hit.
“During the Olympics, a couple of texts from Tokyo saying hey, the vests are great. We’d be lost without them," DiBernardo said.
Such a hit, the two parties are working together for a second summer games.
“When they called to say hey, we’re going now to Paris, we need you again, do you have any updated products, what can we do, I was like, there’s the ultimate validation," DiBernardo said.
Products made in the USA, helping the athletes of Team USA.
And after watching them in Japan, DiBernardo can’t wait to follow them again in Paris.
“Once I finish crying, I know the swell because I’ve felt the swell.”
“The US Sailing team is an incredible organization. They are all hands on and support their athletes. For them to pick us and now for us to be in the game together, I can’t even imagine what that’s going to feel like.”
Oro Sports, named for the Spanish word for gold, and Team USA: fighting together in the push for gold.
“That makes it even more valuable. It’s not like, hey there’s our watch. They’re in the Olympics wearing them. It’s like, oh my god, there they are. We’re helping them cool. We’re helping them perform.”
“That’s Oro.”
To learn more about Oro click here.