Olympians Turning Gold to Green

by Michele Cheplic | More from this Blogger

25 Aug 2008 03:15 PM

Now that the last of the fireworks has exploded over Beijing and the Olympic flame has been officially extinguished, the world class athletes that made the Summer Games such a huge success are moving onto their next mission: turning their gold medals into green.

Cold hard cash-and a ton of it-will welcome golden boy Michael Phelps as he heads back to Baltimore in the coming days. The swimming super star raked in more gold medals than any athlete in Olympic history and if he plays his cards right he could be set for life.

Can you say endorsements?

Those eight shiny gold medals Phelps earned in China this summer are already translating into golden opportunities for the swimming phenom. (Heck, even Phelps' mom is making money off his gold medals.) The day Phelps landed his record breaking eighth gold medal he received a $1 million bonus from swimwear maker Speedo. Then there's Visa, which has already plastered Phelps face from sea to shining sea. And let's not forget Kellogg's. The company signed the part man-part fish to a multimillion-dollar deal BEFORE he left for Beijing and now you will be able to share breakfast with Phelps (or at least a picture of him) when specially designed boxes of Corn Flakes and Frosted Flakes hit store shelves next month. (By the way, gold medal winning decathlete Bryan Clay from Hawaii will grace the front of the Wheaties box.) Besides Kellogg's, Visa and Speedo, Omega, Rosetta Stone, PowerBar, AT&T, and Hilton Hotels are all aligned with Phelps and will be paying the swimmer a pool full of money in the years to come.

But Phelps isn't the only Olympian who is planning to milk their medals for all they're worth. Gold-winning gymnast Nastia Liukin recently signed a multimillion-dollar deal with Visa. (You can now get a Visa card with her picture on it.) And then there's Usain Bolt, the world's fastest man. The Jamaican track star blasted past his competitors wearing gold Puma sneakers, and then took them off after his races and showed them to the world---unsolicited. (Talk about getting your monies worth.)

By the way, Puma was Bolt's first sponsor. I think it's safe to say they won't be his last.

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Learn more about Michele Cheplic

Michele Cheplic was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii, but now lives in Wisconsin. Michele graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in Journalism.

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