We know what you’re going to say. You’re all going to roll your eyes and groan that there has to be an official perfume for the World Championships, named “Istanbul Memory,” and how cheesy that is. It’s incredibly cheesy, actually, that’s true.
But here’s the tail end of that goat: swimming has dipped its toes into the realm of overcommercializing.
That means that people care. The most minor of the 5 World Championship-type events in each quadrennial, the post-Olympic Short Course World Championships, have enough commercial appeal to warrant the production of a “perfume.”
Swimming purists will lament that these types of deals are going to take away the inherent accessibility of swimmers and the “underdog” mentality that the whole sport has embraced in the global sporting arena. This, however, is growth. In a bottle. (No, Mr. Leonard, not that kind of growth in a bottle).
For the sport to truly flourish at the professional level, this is what we need. We need products that can be marketed to a broader community; not just products that can be marketed to age group swimmers, or masters swimmers, or college swimmers. There is a lot of money in competitive swim suits and goggles, but not nearly enough money to support a large-scale professional rank.
With the sale of products like these, there is a “souvenir” appeal; a memory and an attachment to an item and a sport for someone who has never had the pleasure of taking on the 200 fly and the 400 IM. These are the people that we must welcome into our community if further growth should happen.
According to the creators, the perfume is expired by a famous Turkish poem called “the Saga of Istanbul,” which in part describes the everlasting love between two famous Istanbul landmarks: Galata Tower and Maiden’s Tower. The former will adorn the men’s cologne, with the latter serving as the symbol of the women’s perfume.
Well the Turks have been in charged since 1453 maybe that the reason for the perfume. Before them is the Byzantines or the Eastern Romans, then the Roman Empire and before Greeks colonized it and called it Byzantium in 653 BCE, then Constantine changed it to New Rome around 331 and it was known as his city Constantinople and the Turks after the fall of the Ottoman Empire around 1921 or so called it Istanbul the city.
They need perfume to cover up the smell of the place! Trust me. I’ve been there.
It’s by Odeon so it must be good. 60% of the time, it works every time.