Well this is embarrassing, Egypt’s Olympic Organisers has provided over 100 of its Olympians with counterfeit official kits. The news came to light after of the team’s synchronised swimmers took to Twitter to complain.

Earlier this week, Yomna Khallaf, a member of Egypt’s Olympic synchronised swimming team, confirmed that the team had received knockoffs when she responded to a tweet from Egyptian sports writer, Mohamed Seif.

Although the organisers confessed that they had received knockoffs from their supplier, their chairman, Gen Mahmoud Ahmed Ali, defended their actions saying it was as a result of the country’s tight finances. He went on to say that what they had received was “sufficient” for the competitors and advised Nike to pursue the supplier if they were unhappy with the situation.

“We bought the clothing from a Nike agent. You can never tell the difference between the original and the fake ones. All Nike products in the Egyptian Market are made in China. They all have the same logo. How can you know?” Ahmed Ali said in a statement to Ahram Online.

Nike responded, claiming that they had made an effort to open communications with the Egyptian Olympic Committee (EOC) but received no response.

Nike’s authorised distributor in Egypt has sent two official communications to the EOC on this issue and no response has been received. On July 20, 2012, Nike also sent a written communication to the EOC requesting the committee to take immediate action. To date, we have not received a response.

The unhappy athletes were then forced to spend their own money to replace the shoddy, counterfeit goods.

Since then however, Khallaf confirmed on Twitter that the team would be receiving new, authentic kit.

Who “they” are is still unclear and it has not yet been verified who is footing the bill.

[Source: Daily Mail, NYT, Ahram Online]