GOLD DOESN'T EQUATE TO RICHES : FEW OLYMPIAN ENDORSEMENTS.Byline: David Barboza The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times The Olympic Games Olympic games, premier athletic meeting of ancient Greece, and, in modern times, series of international sports contests. The Olympics of Ancient Greece Although records cannot verify games earlier than 776 B.C. in Atlanta were supposed to be the launching pad for the next Bruce Jenner William Bruce Jenner (born October 28, 1949 in Mount Kisco, New York) is a U.S. track athlete, known principally for winning the decathlon in the 1976 Summer Olympics. or Mary Lou Retton Mary Lou Retton (born January 24, 1968 in Fairmont, West Virginia) is an American gymnast of Italian heritage. She was the first female gymnast outside Eastern Europe to win the Olympic all-around title. . Gold in Atlanta was supposed to beget be·get tr.v. be·got , be·got·ten or be·got, be·get·ting, be·gets 1. To father; sire. 2. To cause to exist or occur; produce: Violence begets more violence. gold on Madison Avenue Madison Avenue, celebrated street of Manhattan, borough of New York City. It runs from Madison Square (23d St.) to the Madison Bridge over the Harlem River (138th St.). In the 1940s and 50s, some of the major U.S. . Yet three months after the Olympic flame The Olympic Flame, Olympic Fire, Olympic Torch, Olympic Light, Olympic Eye, and Olympic Sun is a symbol of the Olympic Games. Commemorating the theft of fire from the Greek god Zeus by Prometheus, its origins lie in ancient Greece, when a fire was doused, very few from Team USA's gold medal gold medal traditional first prize. [Western Cult: Misc.] See : Prize contingent have made the leap into endorsement heaven, and no one - not even the gymnast Kerri Strug The references in this article would be clearer with a different and/or consistent style of citation, footnoting or external linking. Kerri Allyson Strug (born November 19, 1977) is an American gymnast from Tucson, Arizona. - has lined up a significant endorsement contract with a major corporation. ``There are not a lot of people raking in the bucks,'' said Andrea Kirby, a consultant who coaches Olympians on how to play to the media. ``Kerri Strug is about as dramatic as they come but she's not a compelling character like Mary Lou Retton.'' The reason, many sports marketers say, is that companies are spending their endorsement money before the Games, seeking to pick winners so their products can be seen by the millions of people watching the Games. While Atlanta produced a bumper crop of gold medal athletes, such as the track stars Michael Johnson and Dan O'Brien, and the soccer and basketball phenomenons Mia Hamm and Lisa Leslie, no one has landed a major television spot since the closing ceremonies. And although several had large endorsements before the Games, few have signed new endorsements deals. Amy Van Dyken Amy Van Dyken (born February 15, 1973 in Englewood, Colorado) is an American swimmer who has six career Olympic gold medals. Four of these gold medals came in the 1996 Summer Olympics, making her the first American woman to accomplish such a feat. , who won four gold medals in swimming, has a modest deal with Ralston Purina Co. Ms. Hamm appeared in a Pert Plus shampoo commercial a few weeks after the Olympics and Johnson has a Swatch watch coming out in December. But most of those who were expected to cash in with big endorsements are settling for less. O'Brien, the world record holder in the decathlon decathlon (dĭkăth`lŏn), in modern Olympic games, a contest for men held over two days and composed of 10 track-and-field events. , is endorsing a blue-green algae blue-green algae, popular name for those microorganisms that are now more properly called cyanobacteria. product. Tom Dolan, who won gold in swimming, is yet to sign a new endorsement contract. And the gold medal winning U.S. gymnastics team is practically begging Nike Inc. for a sneaker deal, according to Sheryl Shade, the agent for the team. General Mills Inc. did put 11 Olympians on five different Wheaties cereal boxes, but the Olympic glitter faded fast on Madison Avenue. ``For 26 years I've been through the Olympics and always two or three came out and would be busy,'' said David Burns, president of Burns Sports Celebrity Service in Chicago. ``But as far as anyone red hot emerging, it didn't happen this year.'' Ms. Strug, who vaulted through injury to become one of the stars of the Olympics, was expected to be the hot property. But for a number of reasons, she has not vaulted into the heart of Corporate America. She has deals with Danskin Inc. leotards, Ace bandages and a vitamin health supplement, but no substantial endorsements yet. Instead, Ms. Strug and many other Olympians are earning large sums for tours, speaking engagements, book deals and television appearances, hoping to stay in the public eye long enough for something more to develop. ``The real sign for me that she was not going to have her prolific time in the marketplace was the fact that Wheaties did not feature her alone on its box,'' said Nova Lanktree, president of Lanktree Sports Celebrity Network in Chicago. ``It signaled to me the advertisers were not seeing her as the next Mary Lou Retton.'' However, Leigh Steinberg, Ms. Strug's agent, said she will earn about $3 million this year, largely from tours and appearances. ``Endorsements at this point aren't massive, but check in five months,'' Steinberg said. The idea now is to prove to advertisers that she has staying power. ``She's going to be another Mary Lou Retton,'' he predicted, noting that Ms. Retton's endorsements were slow in coming after her 1984 gold medal triumph in gymnastics. ``Mary Lou Retton was not Mary Lou Retton right after the Olympics,'' he said. One reason for the downturn in post-Olympic fever, some suggest, may be the phenomena of ``pre-endorsements,'' or deals before the Olympics. This year, gold medal hopefuls, such as Jackie Joyner-Kersee, were featured, ad nauseam, in television advertisements before and during the Olympics. ``There's much more Olympic interest prior to the games,'' said Brad Hunt, president of Gold Medal Management in Boulder, Colo., and the agent for Johnson, O'Brien and Ms. Van Dyken. ``Corporate America wants to be part of the Olympics while it's happening. If there is a time to cash in on the Olympics, it's not after the Olympics, it's before.'' Increasingly, Olympic sponsors and other corporations identify and sign up potential winners before the Games. ``Our job is to pick Olympians ahead of time,'' said Sue Levin, director of women's sports marketing at Nike. ``We've already got people who we expect to be the stars of the 2000 Games.'' |
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