Adidas plans to overtake Nike in the vital China market by the 2008 Beijing Olympics, with a programme of accelerated store openings and sponsorship deals supported by its acquisition of the Reebok brand, CEO Herbert Hainer recently said. Adidas plans to open an average of 1.5 new stores a day in China over the next two years as part of a plan to double its current 2,500 adidas-brand stores in the country by 2010, said Hainer.

Adidas's $3.8bn acquisition of Reebok is also important to adidas's China plans, Hainer noted. It plans to speed up the rollout of Reebok outlets in China, opening 200-250 stores a year and aiming for a total of 1,500-2,000 Reebok-brand stores in China. Reebok currently has 50 stores in China.

Star basketball player Yao Ming is sponsored by Reebok and should be wearing the company's shoes during the Olympics, even though Nike is the apparel sponsor for the Chinese basketball team.

Adidas has made the significant investment to sign up as an official Olympics sponsor. According to industry estimates, the company shelled out a record $80m primarily for the privilege of having all athletes sport adidas's three-stripe logo when they step on the winning podium. adidas won't comment on how much it paid for sponsorship.