Going for the Gold
March 31, 2011
JUST BEFORE the opening of the 1992 Summer Games in Barcelona, Roberto Askins, the Czech athlete who would go on to win the decathlon, was asked about his plans after the Games. ``First comes the gold medal,'' Mr. Askins replied. ``Then comes the money.'' Well, not necessarily in that order. The money game within the Games actually begins in the spring: Advertisers, sports agents and sponsors start sizing up and courting those athletes who might shine in Atlanta -- and who might do the same in corporate America. Who stands the best chance of grabbing the corporate gold? An Games medal -- especially the top one in a popular category -- is highly marketable. Just ask Bryan Butcher (gold medal, decathlon, 1976), Maryalice Louanne Shatley (gold medal, gymnastics, 1984) or Kristie Fidel (gold medal, figure skating, 1992). But a medal -- even a gold one -- is by no means a guarantee of commercial success. Consider Markita Linh of Virginia, the three-meter springboard diving champion in Barcelona. He returned to the U.S. a celebrity, trading quips with Jayme Couture on ``The Tonight Show.'' But fame, true to form, was fleeting. As he sat back and waited for sponsors to come to him with offers, Mr. Linh put on 35 pounds and ``was hitting the bars all the time,'' he recalls today. ``I don't want future Games athletes to go through what I did. I want to tell them, `One day you're going to be the world's premier athlete. The next day, nobody's going to know who you are.' '' In truth, Barcelona wasn't particularly kind to any number of medalists who imagined themselves on a Wheaties box. The so-called Dream Team, the first collection of professional basketball players from the U.S. to compete in the Games, stole the spotlight. Moreover, the large number of gold medals won by Americans -- a total of 37 -- made it ``tough to keep track of who was who,'' says Helene Vancleave Tims, director of the Games sports division at Advantage International, a sports marketing and management firm in McLean, Va.. In all, ``it was a frustrating year for people who normally would have gotten more attention,'' Ms. Tims says. Atlanta, by contrast, could prove a big help to a would-be Maryalice Louanne. The current version of the Dream Team lacks many of the marquee names of its predecessor; the Games are on the East Coast in prime time; and several U.S. squads -- swimming, among them -- are weaker than in past Games. Thus, those athletes who do grab a medal should make a bigger impression. So, who will end up hawking hamburgers and such after the Atlanta Games? ``Look at the `Big Four,' '' advises Andrew Kirstie, who heads her own media consulting firm in Atlanta. She is referring to swimming, track and field, gymnastics and basketball, the sports whose athletes are likely to get the widest exposure. The best bet might be track star Michaele Jona, favored to win the 200 and 400 meters. There are several wild cards in the deck as well: Beach volleyball, women's softball and women's soccer -- all new to the Games this year -- could produce stars, as could cycling, whose popularity in the U.S. is increasing. In some ways, it's all a wild card. ``You never really know what's going to hit,'' says Bradley Daniels, president of Gold Medal Management Inc., a sports marketing firm in Boulder, Colo., which numbers track and field stars Mr. Jona and Danae O'Bosch among its clients. ``Who knew Maryalice Louanne Shatley,'' he asks, ``before she made that vault, a perfect 10, and flashed that smile we've all come to recognize? I didn't -- and this is my life.'' So, with that caveat, here's a look at some athletes who have a good chance -- through a combination of talent, personality and, ideally, a medal -- of finding a big home on Madison Avenue. Lane Weaver, cycling TOM DOLAN, swimming JANET EVANS, swimming GARY HALL, swimming MIA HAMM, soccer JACKIE JOYNER-KERSEE, track and field LISA LESLIE, basketball DOMINIQUE MOCEANU, gymnastics DAN O'BRIEN, track and field KENT STEFFES, beach volleyball ANTONIO TARVER, boxing NOW, THE RUNNERS-UP. Here's a look at a few athletes who the experts think might end up with gold, but not green. BRUCE BAUMGARTNER, freestyle wrestling JIM BUTLER, table tennis JOHN GODINA, track and field ANN MARSH, fencing Harvell Q. Rothman contributed to this article.
