Epson today announced its sponsorship of the European Athletics Championships to be held in Goteborg, Sweden from 7 to 13 August 2006.

As a trusted partner of the EAA since 2001, Epson is proud to provide innovative technology that helps athletes and media commentators, whilst enhancing viewer enjoyment of this major quadrennial sporting event.

Staged at the Ullevi stadium, the European Athletics Championships 2006 will bring together a record number of 1370 athletes; over 100 more than at previous championships and representing a record number of 48 different countries. As the most important athletics event in Europe this year, the European Athletics Championships will attract an estimated 2 million visitors to the city of Goteborg and approximately 1 billion TV viewers worldwide.

Coordinating the IT systems for such a major event as the European Athletics Championships relies implicitly on speed, accuracy and reliability – a challenge that provides the perfect opportunity for Epson to showcase its technological prowess. With the original Epson Performance Evaluation (EPE) System, for example, TV viewers will be able to enjoy field events as never before, thanks to three-dimensional analysis of the long jump and triple jump. Moreover, this analysis enables athletes to better understand and thus improve their performances. And Epson’s unique Commentator Information System (CIS) makes it possible to collate and transmit in real time, results from the track and field, in addition to a host of information about the athletes and past events. This up-to-the-minute information is also the basis for the data provided to enthusiastic athletics fans worldwide by TV and Internet media.

These systems will be backed by an international team of approximately 22 technical staff, with other support to include high-speed, high-performance laser printers for the pressroom and for all the print needs of the local organising committee. In a world where fractions of a second or a millimetre can mean the difference between success and failure, Epson's high precision systems play an integral role in ensuring that the European Athletics Championships run smoothly.

‘’Epson is proud to be a trusted partner of the EAA’’ says Ramon Ollé, CEO and Chairman of Epson Europe. ‘’And in the same way as athletes strive to reach ever higher targets, Epson’s corporate culture of creativity and challenge continuously drives us to provide products and services that enable people to exceed their expectations.’’

Please visit www.epson.com/sports to find out more about how Epson technology supports athletics and other sports.

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