Sportswear Adidas becomes third sponsor of the London Olympics 2012

Adidas became the third sponsor of the London Olympics on Thursday in a deal worth more than 100 million pounds (US$201 million; EUR143 million).

Sportswear manufacturer Adidas becomes the official sportswear partner for the 2012 Games and will also provide clothing for the 70,000 volunteers, as well officials and those running the torch relay.

The deal also covers sponsorship for clothing and equipment used by British athletes for the 2008 Beijing Games, the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games and London.

"No other host city has made such progress in its domestic sponsorship five years out from the games," London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe said.

Adidas flew in world champions Tyson Gay and Allyson Felix for Thursday's launch, and the pair ran on a mock racing track on the Millennium Bridge over the River Thames to highlight the deal.

The sponsorship announcement also featured Nadia Comeneci, who won five gold medals in gymnastics at the 1976 Olympics. England soccer star David Beckham also made an appearance via a hologram - speaking about his joy at competing in front of crowds in his native London.

Adidas joins British bank Lloyds TSB, which has signed up as a banking and insurance partner, and EDF Energy, which has the utilities sponsorship. London hopes to name a fourth sponsor by Christmas.

"Our objective, and I think we'll probably get there, is to have all our tier one sponsors in place by Beijing, which would be the first time a host city has done that," Coe said.

The other categories are telecoms, automotive, airline, oil and gas and a clothing and homeware manufacturer.

The top-tier sponsors will help raise 2 billion pounds (US$4 billion; EUR 2.9 billion) for the London Olympic organizing committee.

"It's a really important commercial message as well," Coe said. "It's not just the importance of coming to the table with serious help, in terms of helping us deliver our financial commitments. These are partners coming to the table that can bring other levels of expertise.

A separate budget for venues, infrastructure and regeneration projects totals 9.3 billion pounds (US$18.6 billion; EUR13.3 billion).

Adidas chief executive officer Herbert Hainer said the sponsorship was the biggest single investment that the German company had made in the British market. He said he wanted Adidas to be the leading ports brand in Britain and the largest sportswear maker in Europe.

Adidas would also deliver the highest merchandizing revenues to LOCOG from any single sponsor, Adidas Europe managing director Gil Steyeart said.

Adidas also has a sportswear partnership for the Beijing Olympics.