Romney's Olympic Uniforms Were Made in Burma

Salt Lake outsourcing caused outcry in 2002
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 17, 2012 3:34 AM CDT
Romney's Olympic Uniforms Were Made in Burma
Torchbearer Kerith Woodyard, wearing the made--in-Burma uniform, carries the Olympic flame in Taylorsville, Utah in February 2002.   (Getty Images)

Mitt Romney hasn't had much to say on the controversy over Team USA's made -in-China uniforms, and the Huffington Post thinks it knows why: When Romney was running the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, production of more than 10,000 torchbearer uniforms was outsourced to Burma. The Southeast Asian nation was being ruled by a brutal military junta at the time, and the decision to make the uniforms there caused an outcry among trade bodies, human rights groups—and some of the torchbearers.

"When I looked at the label for the uniform, I went nuts," one former torchbearer tells the Guardian. "When you are sending work representing the US to a military dictatorship, I have an issue with that." After receiving more than a thousand emails protesting the uniforms, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee offered this bizarre response: "The torch relay clothes were NOT made in Burma. They were manufactured in Myanmar." The committee apologized after activists pointed out that Burma and Myanmar are the same country. (More Myanmar stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X