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Olympic gold medal winner Liu Xiang waves to a crowd on
arriving Beijing Internaional Airport on August 31, 2004.
(Xinhua) |
How much is an Olympic gold medal worth? For China's newest
sports stars, fresh from triumph in Athens and idolized by a sports-crazy public
can cash in like never before.
China, in its best Olympic showing, won 32 gold medals at the Athens
Games, second only to the United States. The surprise result earned high
praise from China's government, which called on all Chinese to learn from
the athletes.
"The excellent performance by China's athletes again shows the spirit
of the Chinese nation's unremitting efforts to improve
itself," the government said in a message broadcast repeatedly on
state-run television.
"The motherland is proud of you, and the people are proud of you."
As China gears up to host
the Olympics in Beijing in 2008, the power of the Olympic brand will only
grow, marketers say.
"If nothing else, 2008 has created an opportunity that is frankly
unprecedented," said Christopher Millward, chief executive of Millward
Consultants in Beijing. "The inherent publicity of the games has created
that," he said.
 For the stars of Athens, the central government has promised
prizes of up to $24,000 for Olympic medalists, and individual provinces
also plan to rain cash on their local stars, the official People's Daily
newspaper said in its online edition.
Yunnan, for example, will give weightlifter Zhang Guozheng $180,000 for
being the first from the province to capture Olympic gold.
Still to come are the commercial endorsements, speaking engagements and
free merchandise that are par for the course in developed nations. Chinese
motorcycle makers, property developers and others already have announced
gifts of their own, no strings attached.
Hurdling star Liu Xiang stands to earn the most of all, after becoming
the first Chinese man to win gold at an Olympic track event. He was
awarded the honor of carrying China's flag at the close of the Athens
Games, after finishing first in the 110-meter hurdles by matching the
world record time of 12.91 seconds.
Already, Liu can be seen leaping from Nike sneaker ads. The People's Daily said Liu is
set to collect $400,000 just in government prizes. His commercial earnings could
be several times that.
(Agencies) | 
Updated: 2004-08-30 09:30