UPS Olympics Sponsorship

UPS Delivers 2000 Olympic Games Excitement With New Packaging

ATLANTA, Feb. 7, 2000 -- World-class UPS employee-athletes will be running, swimming, kicking and jumping into customers' hands this month as UPS, the official express delivery company of the 2000 Olympic Games, unveils its Olympic-themed packaging in support of the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia this September.

For the first time ever, nearly 65 million packages will feature the images of four UPS employee-athletes who have been training to compete among the world's elite athletes. The images represent three sports of the Olympic Games - track & field, taekwondo and swimming.

UPS employee-athletes featured on the 2000 Olympic-themed packaging include:

Tongula Givens, a UPS employee for the past two years, is a part-time small package sorter and driver in Raleigh, NC. Givens is training for an opportunity to represent the U.S. in the triple jump.
Eugene Swift, a 14-year veteran of UPS, works in the Oakland, CA Human Resources department. A 1996 Olympian in the 110-meter hurdles, he is training for the same event in 2000.
Karl-Heinz "Fiete" Klenz, currently a part-time preloader in Leipzig, Germany, has been with UPS for three years. Klenz is training for a spot on the German National Swim Team in the 200m and 400m freestyle events.

Michael Sanchez, a Human Resources training supervisor in Chicago, IL, has been with UPS for 12 years. He has been training and competing in taekwondo for the past eight years.

"The Olympic-themed packaging integrates two of UPS's most visible brand assets - our employees and express delivery packaging," said Rosemary Windsor, vice president of UPS Olympic and Corporate Events. "The new packaging allows UPS to deliver the excitement of the Olympic Games to our customers."

The UPS employee-athletes featured on the packaging have been training for the Sydney 2000 Games as members of the UPS Athlete Training Assistance Program (ATAP). This global program was created by UPS in 1995 to support eligible part-time or full-time employees from its worldwide ranks who demonstrate world-class competitive abilities and hope to represent their countries in the Olympic Games. Since the program's launch, ATAP has helped 31 UPS employee-athletes pursue their Olympic dreams. Currently, 13 employees are participating in the ATAP program with hopes of competing in the 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

"People may not know my name now, but UPS customers worldwide will certainly know my face, and those of my co-workers," said Tongula Givens, a UPS ATAP employee-athlete. "Hopefully, they'll get a chance to see my face again - with a very big smile -- on the award stand in Sydney."

The UPS employee-athlete images will appear on express delivery envelopes worldwide, including UPS Next Day Air®, 2nd Day Air®, Next Day Air® Reusable, and legal-size Next Day Air® Reusable in the United States. UPS Worldwide Express® envelopes will be printed in three languages (English, French and German).

A worldwide Olympic partner since 1994, UPS printed nearly 200 million express delivery envelopes with full-color athlete images in support of the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, GA and 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan. This is the third collection of Olympic-themed packaging.

UPS provides global expertise and services to the International Olympic Committee, National Olympic Committees, Olympic Games Organizing Committees, sports federations and national teams. UPS is the world's largest express carrier and package delivery company, serving more than 200 countries and territories with nearly 341,000 employees worldwide.