Word: medalling
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...most athletes, winning a medal is easier than competing for endorsement deals...
...only two decades, China has gone from Olympic outcast, with just five golds in 1988, to a powerhouse, with 28 in the 2000 Games. China's athletic czars have promised that 2008, when Beijing is host, will bring the nation an unprecedented medal trove. To better its chances, China has poured money into lesser-known sports like shooting that offer a bounty of medals. "If we plan very carefully, we could surpass Russia by 2008," boasts Wei Hongquan, a publicity official with China's State General Administration of Sport...
...more degrees by winning his first Olympic gold in the 400-m individual medley in world-record time. It was the first gold for the U.S., and as impressively stoic as Phelps has been in pursuing Mark Spitz's cache of seven of them, the weight of the first medal brought on his own waterworks. "There were definitely tears," he admitted. "I've thought about this every day for my whole entire swimming career." Pulled along in his powerful wake, the U.S. medaled in every swimming event on the first day, launching the 43-strong swim team on its quest...
...grab the book. How about this? "Lebanon has never won an Olympic medal, but recently a Lebanese woman won the world karaoke championship in Finland, singing the 1980s classic Fame." Oh, this is the one: "Gabon's President, as you know, is Omar Bongo, now in his 37th year as head of state. And yet again, he has promised any Gabonian medal winner a new house and vast sums of cash. But the wily Bongo is hedging his bets, insofar as they have never won an Olympic medal...
Even if Phelps belly flops, he will still come home a millionaire, thanks to his many endorsement deals. But the same is far from true for the 300 or so athletes who will leave the Summer Games with a gold medal. Compete in one of the less popular sports--one-man flat-water canoe, anyone?--and the ultimate prize for athletic achievement could be worth little more than what you can hock it for on eBay. "It's not the gold medal where the value lies--it's the neck it hangs around," says Dean Bonham, a sports-marketing consultant...