PARIS – Noah Lyles wasted no time. After winning the 100 meters at the Paris Olympics, he promptly declared what he wanted the most as the newly anointed Fastest Man Alive.
“ I want my own shoe,” he said. “I want my own trainer. I’m dead serious. I want a sneaker. There ain’t no money in spikes, there’s money in sneakers. I feel like for how many medals we bring back and the notoriety we get, the fact that hasn’t happened, that’s crazy for me. I feel like that needs to happen.”
Athletes come to the Olympics seeking gold medals, but for some, there are more lucrative prizes at stake. The two-week competition provides a global stage for competitors to be noticed and potentially cash in and extend their 15 minutes of fame.
Few outside of gymnastics had ever heard of Stephen Nedoroscik before the Paris Games. After helping the U.S. men to their first team competition medal in 16 years, the bespectacled ““Pommel Horse Guy” should have eyeglass maker Warby Parker banging on his door.
American runner Kendall Ellis found herself stuck in a porta potty at the U.S. track trials, and she landed a sponsorship deal with toilet paper maker Charmin.
“It was just the perfect fit,” Ellis said.
French pole vaulter Anthony Ammirati found offers coming his way — granted, from porn company CamSoda — after he was eliminated from the Paris Olympics because he couldn’t clear the bar. The reason? It had gotten stuck on his crotch and knocked down, resulting in a 12th-place finish.
The agent for American rugby player Ilona Maher can barely catch her breath in Paris, where Maher has boosted her initial popularity from three years ago at the Tokyo Games all the way to bona fide stardom. Maher’s savvy use of social media attracted attention in Tokyo but is now at a global level — she has nearly 5.5 million followers across her social media accounts and almost 121 million likes across all her TikToks — and has cultivated a brand.
“A lot of people see her popping off right now and having this viral moment, but we’ve been working really strategically to be able to position her to have a lightning in a bottle moment,” said agent Rheann Engelke of Range Sports.
A tracking service found that Maher saw a 257% increase in Instagram followers from June 30 to July 30, as she led the United States to its first medal, a bronze, in rugby sevens.
With her crowning athletic achievement and burgeoning fame, the offers began pouring in. Maher’s platform is focused on body positivity, women empowerment, promoting rugby and encouraging young girls to play sports, but her sharp sense of humor and social media use has brought in dozens of opportunities — including some in the entertainment space.
“What’s really special about Ilona is going into this Olympic moment, she knew exactly who she was, she knew what her message was and she knew the kind of brands she wanted to align with,” Engelke said. “We can take the process a little slow and really look at who is aligned with her, who is the right brand partner. It’s certainly hectic right now, but we will be somewhat strategic and slow because it is vitally important for Ilona being exactly who she is.”
T. Bettina Cornwell, the Philip H. Knight Chair at the University of Oregon and head of the department of marketing, believes an athlete must go beyond building a social media platform to have real staying power. The big deals go to Simone Biles, Katie Ledecky, or retired swimmer Michael Phelps. The athletes from lesser known sports must understand the audience.
“An athlete captures an audience at the intersection of sport performance and a life story. This is not to say that top performing athletes cannot have top follower numbers on social media, but to truly capture the heart of an audience, storytelling is essential,” Cornwell said. “The more relatable an athlete is as a person, the more the audience will enjoy their unrelatable elite athletic performance — ‘I don’t know how she does it, but I love watching her!’”
But the world today is fickle and meme-driven, said John Baick, a professor of history at Western New England University, who noted there’s no way to predict how the audience will react to any athlete or viral moment. In the case of Nedoroscik, he was trending before he had even gotten onto the pommel horse for his calm demeanor as he silently sat and waited, Clark Kent-style, wearing his glasses.
“In our age of memes, it is your look, it is your glasses, it is your character, and there’s no way of knowing in advance what’s going to attract people. Will people make fun of him for that? Or will people find it endearing?” Baick said. “This is where one person on Instagram can change someone’s fate. And if that one person is liked enough, and we are definitely in a meme culture, the case for a bronze medal for someone quirky is ultimately going to be worth more than a gold medal for someone in a sport no one cares about.”
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