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Chinese athletes to gain from Olympic wins
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-08-31 10:33
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, gold medal means they can cash in like never before.
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China's Liu
Xiang (centre) poses on the podium during the medal ceremony of the
men's 110 metres hurdle final at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games August 27,
2004. Liu will collect 3,500,000 yuan just in government prizes after
taking the Olympic men's 110 metres hurdles gold medal.
[Reuters]
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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 the
central 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 on state television.
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 200,000 yuan (US$24,000) for Olympic medalists, and individual provinces also plan to
rain cash on their local stars, the People's Daily newspaper said in its
online edition.
Yunnan, for example, will give weightlifter Zhang Guozheng US$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 3,500,000 yuan (US$400,000) just
in government prizes. His commercial earnings could be several times that.
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