(I received free products from Li-Ning, all opinions are my own and not swayed by outside sources.)

After being glued to our screens to watch the Olympics these past couple of weeks I’ll bet this logo looks familiar to you. That’s because by now you have seen it on all of the Chinese Athletes’ Uniforms, and those of several other countries competing in the games. The brand is Li Ning and it is probably the biggest brand you’ve never heard of. Here in America that is, but it is the Nike of China. You may know the name Li Ning from the companies founder, he is the Chinese gymnast who won six metals for China in the 1984 Olympics. That was the first Olympics that the People’s Republic of China took part in, and three of his metals were gold. Li Ning himself lit the 2008 Olympic torch at the Beijing summer Olympics. In 1990 he had set out to create a sportswear company with global reach, and today Li Ning is the biggest name in Chinese Sportswear. The company has global athletic sponsorships past and present, including several American Basketball players such as Shaquil O’Neil and Jose Calderon among others. Li-Ning sportswear had sent me a very soft thin cotton sweat shirt to try out when they first entered the U.S. sportswear market earlier this year. Aside from wearing my sweatshirt that I love, I had not thought too much more about the brand until I noticed the logo on the women’s Chinese Diving team suits that I was admiring. Some of the Chinese uniform designs were my favorite, and they were all made by Li-Ning. I recently have noticed some ads for their athletic shoes along the sidebar of my computer screen as well. I’m not quite ready to switch out of my Nikes, and both brands are made in China, but I’m guessing with their new ad campaigns and great designs for the Olympics that the brand Li-Ning will not go unknown here much longer.