“I’m happy to know that I’m being supported by a brand that goes after the things I want,” once said Brittany Brown. Also, these are the very spikes that helped her clinch her first Olympic medal. You must be wondering which brand we are talking about. Well, it’s a famous one. And incidentally, her story with the brand started long before they became her official running partner.
No more keeping you in the dark. Her latest spike sponsor is Nike, the largest supplier of athletic shoes and apparel globally. Headquartered right at home in Oregon, the brand has taken up the responsibility of supporting Brown’s track and field dreams. And nobody will be more ecstatic than the Iowa graduate herself. So, let’s get into the details of how the deal came about.
Brittany Brown’s spikes? Know the deal and its worth with Nike
Well, have you ever heard that an athlete would have a shoe sponsor going into the Olympic trials but would end up becoming a free agent despite qualifying for the Olympic Games? Well, Brittany Brown can say that happened to her. Talking to Citius MAG on July 18, 2024, right after becoming Team Nike, she said, “After the Trials, I found myself being a free agent with my existing deal having expired.”
And swooped in Nike as the savior of the day: “I was drawn to Nike because of their significant investment in women’s sports. I deeply value the direction that Nike is going, and I’m excited to start this new chapter of my professional career.” Even from a professional viewpoint, changing shoes right before the biggest competition for a track and field athlete can be a little disruptive.
Shoes become part of the athlete, carefully chosen to give the best results. You can’t just simply change your spikes, that too just before the Olympics. But the 11-time All-American sees it differently: “It’s funny because my coach just asked me what I was wearing when I won my first medal. I was wearing my old Nike college spikes from Iowa. It worked out perfectly…. I’m hoping I have some good luck in them again.” And she did.
Clocking 22.20 seconds in the 200m sprint, she earned bronze, finishing behind Gabby Thomas and Julien Alfred. Not much is disclosed about the contract she signed with Nike. But it involves the usual provisions of Nike providing Brown with the best-in-class running shoes and apparel. Travel and health benefits may also be in the deal. And we may see the Paris Olympian featured in their promotional events or even endorsing their shoes on various platforms.
She must be so grateful for the timing, the way a brand like Nike came in to support her Olympic journey. The deal is so close to her heart, especially when we see it through her story.
Why is this deal so special? The background of an inspirational journey
After Brittany Brown qualified for Paris, she took to Twitter on June 30, 2024, to post, “My name is Brittany Shamere Brown. I never won a track state title. I didn’t go to a ‘big track school. ’ Also, I never won an NCAA Title. I wasn’t signed right out of college to a shoe company. BUT. I JUST WOKE UP AS AN OLYMPIAN!!” The story of Brown has been a curious one. One of the cornerstones of her story has been the way she has been fighting physical ailments all her life.
She became a Big Ten Champion while also setting records in the collegiate 100m and 200m. Although she didn’t clinch an NCAA title, everybody could see what a talent she was. And she set herself the ultimate goal, as she disclosed on July 18, 2024: “Let me see if I can do this Olympic and pro thing.”
However, her journey out of college started without a sponsor. She tried to overcome it by working as a caregiver at a facility, looking after patients with dementia and Alzheimer’s. The money was always tight, but she strived. So, when she landed a silver at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in 200m. But do you know what makes her triumph already inspiring and unbelievable? That she had been running with the pain of chronic endometriosis since 2018.
For those who haven’t heard of it, it is a condition in which the tissue that lines the uterus grows outside the uterus. It becomes a problem as that tissue starts to shed like the uterine lining during menstruation, causing severe pelvic pain, excessive bleeding, diarrhea, and nausea. Brittany Brown has experienced it all, sometimes right during a meet. She has no cure, and the only process is to treat the symptoms.
Fighting against something like this can take its toll. She once shared her ordeal on Instagram: “At times it feels like this body I’ve been given is literally trying to attack me.” But being the fighter she is, she took up the challenge: “But at the same time, I love my body because it figures out a way to show up.” What was worse was how the doctors failed to provide a holistic solution to her problem for a long time.
The kind of consultations she got as she shared was, “Oh, just go on birth control — just stop your period,” or “Oh, just have a baby,” or “just have a hysterectomy (removal of uterus). While she kept looking for a better solution, she also kept suffering every bit of the condition.
But in her suffering, the Iowa graduate found answers. She always had courage. So, all she had to do was raise her voice so that every woman like her would not ignore their pain or trivialize it like they are asked to. “…we’re the experts on our bodies, and there’s space for me to know my body and be aware of it, as well as the doctor. I definitely have told plenty of women who’ve reached out to me, ‘If this doctor doesn’t believe you, or if you feel like he’s minimizing you, leave.’”
She found an endometriosis group chat, which helped her. That ranges from healing processes to good doctors who really help in reducing the pain. Brown has tried to share her story with the world so that as many women can actually alleviate their suffering. Hey but in all this, what makes Nike a special shoe brand for Brittany Brown?
Well, that’s to do with how Nike champions women’s causes. Be it the ‘So Win’ campaign or their partnership with ‘Togethxr – Everyone Watches Women’s Sports.’ ‘So Win’ Campaign is an exclusive Nike initiative where they are encouraging women to break barriers, not be told what they can do, but rather do what they want.
The Togethxr brand was founded by women’s sports leaders like Alex Morgan, Chloe Kim, and Sue Bird. They aim to make women’s sports more popular and sustainable and, in turn, encourage more women to take up sports. As Nike champions women’s causes, Brittany Brown must be feeling right wearing their shoes. Not to mention, she signed the deal with Nike just 2 weeks after she had started a GoFundMe campaign on July 8, 2024. She needed money so that her family could go to Paris to watch her compete. Maybe Nike’s contract benefits came to her aid.
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