Industry News: Arena Announces Signing of Rebecca Soni, Eric Shanteau

LOS ANGELES, California, November 23. OVER the weekend, Arena announced that it signed a pair of top-flight U.S. swimmers in Rebecca Soni and Eric Shanteau. The following are each of their press releases pertaining to each individual swimmer.

Rebecca Soni
Arena, one of the leading companies at world-wide level in the sports waterwear category, is proud to announce the entry into its Elite Team of Rebecca Soni (USA, 21), Olympic champion of 200m breaststroke and World champion and World record holder in the 100m breaststroke.

Rebecca, apart from standing alongside great American champions of the caliber of Aaron Peirsol and Eric Shanteau, will be joining other international champions like the Brazilian Cesar Cielo, Olympic 50m FS champion and world 50m and 100m FS champion, as well as world 100m FS record holder, the German Paul Biedermann, world champion and world record holder in the 400m and 200m FS, at which event he snatched both victory and the world record from the most successful champion of all time Michael Phelps – the only person to have done this in the last 4 years, the Frenchman Alain Bernard, Olympic 100m FS champion and the Tunisian Oussama Mellouli, Olympic and world 1500m FS champion.

Rebecca Soni, specialist in the 100m and 200m breaststroke, emerged while still very young onto the world scene at the Beijing Olympics, and more recently by winning the gold medal and setting a new world 100m breaststroke record at the World Championships in Rome.

Of Hungarian origin, Rebecca was born and brought up in the United States in Plainsboro Township (New Jersey). She got a degree at the USC Annenberg School for Communication in 2006. She is currently training with Dave Salo at USC.

Following a minor surgery that partially affected her training in 2006, in 2007 she was notching up her first important results at international level. At this year's Duel in the Pool (USA v Australia), the young breaststroker clinched a silver in the 200m breaststroke and a bronze in the 100m breaststroke, swimming those distances in the exceptional times of 2:24.70 and 1:07.81, (championship record).

At the national summer Championships (US Summer Nationals) of 2007, Soni won the 100m breaststroke (1:07.06) and the 200m breaststroke (2:23.62), thus setting championship records at both distances.

2008 was the year that elevated her to the rank of international star. Apart from dominating the NCAA Championships, at the American Trials in Omaha, Rebecca won the 200m breaststroke in 2:22.60, thus becoming the third fastest woman at that distance and qualifying for the Olympic Games in Beijing, during which – in a breathtaking final – she prevailed over the strong favorite, the Australian Leisel Jones, snatching the world record from her in the process.

In Beijing, Rebecca also bagged two silvers: in the 100m breaststroke and in the 4x100m medley relay swimming alongside the great athletes Dara Torres, Nathalie Coughlin and Christine Magnusson.

At the 2009 World Championships in Rome, this great champion confirmed her talent and her exceptional form by winning the gold medal in the 100m breaststroke, after having set the new world record (1:04.84) in the semifinals, and by netting the silver medal in the 50m breaststroke, behind the Russian Yulia Efimova.

"We are very happy to announce the entry of Rebecca Soni into our Elite Team – stated Arena Group CEO Cristiano Portas – Rebecca has extraordinary talent and in the last two years she has demonstrated really significant athletic growth. Rebecca will be a jewel in our crown, also in the United States, the most important and prestigious market in the world for swimwear and watersports products, where we have strong plans for the development of our brand and our business in the immediate future. We are also about to sign technical swimwear partnership agreements with the swimming teams of two leading universities, one of which is the very renewed Auburn University (Alabama) where the head coach is Brett Hawke, Olympic swimmer from the Australian Team and nowadays one of the most respected young coaches for sprinter (Cesar Cielo, Fred Bousquet)

"I'm honored and excited to sign with Arena, a company with a long history of success in the pool and commitment to the sport – declared Rebecca Soni – The Arena brand has always thrived on the global scene and I' am grateful for the opportunity to elevate the brand in the United States."

Eric Shanteau
Arena Elite Team of international swimming champions, a key pillar of its marketing strategy, swells its ranks with one of the best breaststrokers in the world: Eric Shanteau. The American champion will be using the three-diamond company's technical equipment until the London Olympics in 2012.

Eric Shanteau (25), grew up in Georgia , and since high school he has stood out for his important sports achievements and national records. He came absolute first in the 2002 USA Swimming Scholastic All-American Program, graduating with top grades and a national title. He attended Auburn University where, with his team which he captained last year, he clinched 32 victories at the duel meet, 4 SEC (South Eastern Conference) titles and 4 NCAA titles.

After graduating in Entrepreneurship and Family Business he transferred to Austin, where he was All American champion 11 times and where he trains with Eddie Reese and Kris Kubik at the University of Texas.

At the World University Games Eric obtained the silver medal in the 400 medley and then again at the University Games in 2005 he won gold at the same distance and in the 200 medley. In 2008, one week before the trial at Omaha (Nebraska), valid for qualification to the Beijing Olympics, he was diagnosed with cancer. With a show of truly extraordinary character and determination, Eric decided to go to the trials anyway, and he qualified for the 200 breaststroke and realized the dream of being able to participate in the Olympics games. After attentive medical consultation, Shanteau decided to go ahead and swim in Beijing and postpone the operation and the therapy which he then did at the end of August 2008. Since then Shanteau has constantly collaborated with the Lance Armstrong Foundation where he is an important voice in the fight against cancer.

In 2009 at the Trials in Indianapolis he won the 200 breaststroke, stopping the clock at 2:08.01, a new American record. Also in the 100 breaststroke he came in second behind Mark Gangloff with a time of 59.45. In the 200 medley he notched up an excellent second place behind Ryan Lochte swimming the distance in 1:56.00. At the Rome World Championships Eric confirmed his great form by winning the gold medal and world record in the 4×100 medley swimming in an extraordinary team made up of Michael Phelps, Aaron Peirsol and Walter Davis, the silver medal in the 200 breaststroke and the bronze in the 200 medley.

"Following Aaron Peirsol's entry, here is another great champion in our team: the American Eric Shanteau – stated Cristiano Portas, Arena CEO. Eric is certainly one of the greatest breaststrokers in the world and he is blessed with incredible character and talent. He is a champion with extraordinary human qualities. His personal story and his battle against cancer are an example to all sportspeople and for us it is truly a great honor to include him in the Elite Team. Eric, alongside Aaron and Rebecca will be a strong ambassador for Arena in the United States, the most important and most prestigious market in the world for swimwear and waterwear sport products where we have strong plans for the development of our brand and our business in the immediate future".

"What an honor fore me to have an opportunity to work with a world class company like Arena – declared Eric Shanteau – Their commitment to producing the fastest swimsuits , highest technology advancements is unparalleled."

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