The Portrait of a Big Loser at the Beijing Olympics -- The biggest
losers in the Beijing Games

The biggest losers in the Beijing Games
These athletes could have cashed in, but couldn’t deliver in the Olympics

http://msnbcmedia1.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photo/_new/080821-oly-losers-vlg11a...
Adrian Dennis / AFP - Getty Images file
Liu Xiang injury not only ended this year's gold medal chances for a man
being dubbed China's Michael Jordan, it also hampered his marketability
for current and future sponsors.

By Lacey Rose
Forbes
updated 11:55 a.m. ET, Fri., Aug. 22, 2008

When China's heavily hyped and widely marketed track star Liu Xiang
limped away from the starting blocks earlier this week, his legions of
fans weren't the only ones let down.

For marketers looking to capitalize on a newly crowned champion, the
wounded hurdler will likely go down as the Beijing Olympics' biggest
disappointment. An injury to his Achilles tendon not only ended this
year's gold medal chances for a man being dubbed China's Michael Jordan,
it also hampered his marketability for current and future sponsors.

But despite extensive coverage of Liu's failure and its impact on his
marketing potential, he's far from alone. When it comes to Olympic
athletes ― and the companies looking to cash in on their success ― the
window of opportunity is small and the requirements enormous.

Unlike tennis players or golfers who have regular and highly visible
opportunities to win championships, most Olympic competitors, be they
runners, swimmers or gymnasts, have a chance only once every four years
to get the public's attention and gain the sponsorship opportunities
that come with it. What's more, without a gold medal to show for that
Olympic performance, those endorsement opportunities are hard to come
by, if attainable at all.

Among the Beijing Games' other disappointments: American sprinter Tyson
Gay. Following an injury-plagued summer, the widely hyped
track-and-field star failed to qualify for the 100 meter final, much
less medal, throwing marketability into question.

"From a marketing standpoint, it's a colossal disruption to his future,"
says Premier Management Group President Evan Morgenstein, who counts
Olympians Nastia Liukin, Jason Lezak and Dara Torres among his clients,
of the sponsorship opportunities squandered by Gay.

In addition to hurting his ability to score new endorsement deals, Gay's
falter will likely impact those he already has. By not providing a
gold-medal performance to tout in future advertisements, the significant
upside that might have been from sponsors like McDonald's, Omega and
Adidas will most likely disappear.

When endorsers sign gold-medal hopefuls, they are banking on the
increased attention and visibility that comes with Olympic success to
promote their brands. But since that sort of success is hardly
guaranteed, the ramp-up to the competition is very often where companies
get their benefits. After all, in the month-plus leading up to the
Olympics, every athlete can be marketed as a gold-medal contender.

Still, being able to capitalize on a gold-medal win is most appealing,
which is why global brands try to hedge against the potential of
injuries (U.S. gymnast Paul Hamm) and falters (U.S. gymnast Alicia
Sacramone) by enlisting a slew of athletes rather than relying on just
one. The hope is at least one will bring home gold.

Of course, when it comes to endorsement opportunities, not all gold
medals ― and for that matter, not all gold medalists ― are created
equal. Instead, everything from the sport to the persona to the
backstory factor into an Olympic champion's marketability, according to
marketers and sports agents.

What makes swimming sensation Michael Phelps a marketer's dream is that
he encompasses it all. The affable athlete entered the games with the
potential to win eight races, a feat that would make him the most
decorated Olympian in history.

"There's never been an athlete whose been as well-positioned to leverage
his success in the Olympic games as Michael Phelps," says Howard Bloom,
who teach sports management at Ottawa's Algonquin College and has worked
with several Olympic athletes.

Bloom believes there's a potential $50 million deal to be had with Nike
― assuming Phelps doesn't renew his recently sweetened contract with
Speedo ― among many other sponsorship opportunities.

There isn't the same sort of general consensus on the marketability of a
silver- or bronze-medalist, however. While some argue a gold is critical
to land sponsorship contracts, others believe the two don't always have
to be so closely aligned.

Simon Wardle, senior vice president of insights and strategy at sports
marketing firm Octagon Worldwide, argues that fan affinity toward an
athlete can and should prove just as important as medal standings,
particularly at the Olympic games.

"You're playing in very different emotional territory with the
Olympics," he says of a heavily covered two-week event packed with
scene-setting and emotional tales of the athletes involved. The way
Wardle sees it, it's not crucial that the athletes walk away with gold
medals, because the emotional connections fans have built with them
become more important than their performances.

Take swimming's silver medalist Dara Torres, whose much-covered personal
history ― a 41-year-old mother competing against women half her age in
her fifth Olympic Games ― makes her both a remarkable and marketable fan
favorite, with or without a gold medal dangling from her neck.

In fact, her agent argues this is the rare case where winning the silver
medal may actually make her more appealing to marketers: "If you're a
41-year-old mom and you win the 50-meter freestyle, which is the crème
de la crème of speed," Morgenstein says, "it takes too much attention
off of why you did what you did and what you hope to do with it and
makes it just about the performance."

We'll see.

(c) 2008 Forbes.com

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26333354/
MSN Privacy . Legal
(c) 2008 MSNBC.com