Team Romania Commercial Emblem of the Romanian Olympic Team
The first commercial emblem for the Romanian Olympic team, revealed at Paris 2024
A national Olympic team is one of the most emotionally charged brands a country owns — yet Romania’s had never had a commercial emblem of its own. It had no mark it could truly own and protect, put on merchandise and sponsorships, and, most importantly, earn the right to display alongside the Olympic rings. That right is not given lightly — the International Olympic Committee guards its symbols strictly — and earning it is what turns a team’s identity from a source of pride into a commercial asset that can help fund the athletes themselves. Ahead of the Paris 2024 Games, the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee set out to create that emblem for the first time, and engaged Brandient to design it.
The brief answered to two demanding masters at once. The mark had to satisfy the IOC’s exacting rules to earn its place beside the rings — and it had to carry enough genuine national feeling that Romanians would recognize it instantly as their own. A design that met the first test but not the second would be merely compliant; one that met the second but not the first could never be commercialized at all.
Brandient built the emblem from Romania’s own cultural icons. It draws the graphic suggestion of Brâncuși’s Endless Column — the modernist monument that is among the country’s most recognizable symbols — intertwined with the motif of the traditional Romanian shirt, the ie, and renders it in the national colors. The result reads as a single visual act: unmistakably Romanian, rooted in heritage yet modern enough for a contemporary sporting brand, made to stir the sense of unity and belonging a nation feels when its team walks out under the flag.
The emblem was approved by the IOC as the commercial emblem of the Romanian team — earning the right to stand beside the Olympic symbols — and was revealed to the world at the Paris 2024 Games, carried through a full identity system and onto the team’s parade kit at the opening ceremony. For the first time, Romania had an Olympic mark it owns and can build on: a piece of national branding as much as a sporting one. The work was recognized with a Graphis Design Awards Gold for Branding (2026).
Client:
Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee
Industry:
National Identity Programs, Sports, Media and Entertainment
Project type:
New Brand Creation
Year:
2023-2024
Services:
Brand Audit · Brand Name, Narratives and Voice · Logo and Visual Identity Program · Corporate ID Program · Digital Design · Experience Design · Communication Design · Brand Guidelines · Branded Environments
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