The BOA is far from the only organisation dealing with excess kit – elite sport in general struggles with kit wastage.

5thread, a consultancy specialising in sustainability, estimates that up to 100,000 items of sports kit end up in UK landfill every year.

“It is a huge issue and it’s also a complex issue,” says Joanna Czutkowna, director of 5thread and a doctoral researcher in sports apparel and the circular economy.

“A lot of this kit is bought before they know which athletes are going to complete in the sport or the event. So there’s a lot of excess stock generated at the point of order.

“Also, the types of contracts that you get for this have something called value in kind, so it’s not a transactional contract. There’s almost an incentive to get free product.”

Czutkowna is describing practices across elite sport, rather than Team GB’s arrangements.

Performance requirements also complicate efforts to reduce waste. Athletes need clothing designed to help them compete, so reducing quantities or changing materials is not always straightforward.

The total surplus is difficult to measure. Kit can remain in warehouses or athletes’ garages without entering a waste stream where it can be counted.

The issue extends across sport, from clubs to countries.

European football governing body Uefa estimates that up to 60% of professional team apparel, external is disposed of at the end of the season, although this figure has not been independently verified.