The closing ceremony in Beijing is still a week away, but sports marketers already are scrambling to determine which athletes can squeeze the most sponsorship gold from their Olympic feats.
The early favorites are the whale in the pool, the boomer's delight and a plucky gymnast.
But converting Olympic fame into long-term corporate sponsorship deals is no sure thing, even for record-setting gold medalist Michael Phelps, seemingly ageless Dara Torres, or Nastia Liukin, the third American to win gold in the all-around female gymnastics competition.
Consider the divergent post-Olympics sports marketing careers of the first two American women to win the all-around gymnastics gold.
It's been 24 years since Mary Lou Retton's golden moment at the 1984 Los Angeles Games, yet 75% of Americans still recognize her name, according to Davie Brown Talent, a division of Marketing Arm, a Dallas-based promotions agency. In contrast, only 10% recognize Carly Patterson, who won the all-around gold in 2004 at Athens.
That is relative anonymity in a society seemingly on a first-name basis with Tiger, LeBron and Kobe. Athletes such as Patterson clearly have ardent fans in their given sports, but their comparatively small numbers make it difficult for corporate sponsors to justify endorsement and sponsorship deals.
So will Liukin take over the America's Sweetheart mantle from the 40-year-old Retton?
"Nastia is obviously benefiting from her success so far and stands to benefit even more from the Olympics," said Paul Swangard, managing director of the University of Oregon's Sports Marketing Center. "But her relevancy for most mainstream sports fans disappears in about three weeks. It's not to say there won't be opportunity -- it's just limited opportunity. Limited but still lucrative."
That doesn't mean there aren't sizable paydays awaiting the stars of Beijing.
When Liukin packed her bags for China, the 18-year-old, Russian-born athlete who now lives in Texas already had nearly a dozen corporate sponsors, ranging from AT&T to Visa.
On Friday evening in Beijing, business agent Evan Morganstein -- who also represents Torres -- was talking about Liukin's new line of gymnastics products. She also joined fellow Olympians Phelps and Aaron Piersol as "athlete partners" for the PureSport performance drinks line.
