Under the agreement, Tipos has pledged more than €800,000 (£630,000/$1 million) to help fund the Slovakian team's preparations for Rio 2016. 

In addition, Tipos will support SOC projects across Slovakia to help promote the values of the Olympic Movement.

"We want [to thank Tipos for their support of] Slovakian Olympians as they prepare for the Olympic Games in Rio," said marketing chairman of the SOC, Daniel Líška.

"Our Olympians can thus be put in a position to go further and higher than before in their sports career."

Líška was joined at the signing of the agreement in Bratislava by SOC President František Chmelár and Tipos chairman Ladislav Kriška.

"We [have entered] into an exclusive partnership with the SOC, which in turn has a prestigious position in Slovakian sport, said Kriška.

"We have no ambition to substitute the Government support for the preparation of our top athletes but we want to [help reach high standards].

"Like winning the lottery allows a person to fill long and unrealistic dreams, we want our elite athletes [and] Olympians to fulfil their dreams."

The agreement will see Tipos provide funding support for Slovakian athletes preparing for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games ©SOC




Slovakia has competed at every Summer and Winter Olympics since first appearing at Lillehammer 1994.

In that time it has won 29 medals - nine gold, 11 silver and nine bronze.

Slovakia sent a team of 63 athletes to Sochi 2014 and returned with just one medal, a gold for Anastasiya Kuzmina in the women's biathlon sprint event.

At London 2012, Zuzana Štefečeková and Danka Barteková won silver and bronze respectively in shooting, while canoeists Michal Martikán and Peter and Pavol Hochschorner also claimed bronze medals.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]