International Olympic Committee crushes knitting group!

More on "ambush marketing" from NPR but the last paragraphs of the article were actually jaw dropping. When the International Olympic Committee (IOC) found out about a knitting group on Facebook called, "Ravelry," which featured an annual event called the "Ravelympics," that was an unacceptable infringement on the Olympic trademark and the event had to be CRUSHED. Seriously, I kid you not! The focus of the article is essentially that the IOC and the USOC are going to squeeze every potential penny it can get out of every single athlete it can muster even though this financial policy seems so alien to the Olympic movement once you read its Olympic Charter:

Point number-ten of the Olympic Charter first then below that an NPR quote for a stark contrast:

"...To oppose any political or commercial abuse of sport and athletes; ..." 

Peter Carlisle from Octogon told NPR  that "...he's frustrated by the blackout rule. ... As the USOC limits an athlete's ability to raise money, Carlisle says, it's also using that athlete's publicity rights to raise money for itself. ..."  

[NPR Article: Link]

Please note it's the US Olympic Committee doing the suppression of income but the IOC is allowing it to happen.

The money the IOC raises for themselves is in the billions-of-dollars -  Welcome to the glorious world of "Athlete Trafficking." Govenment sanctioned, governments approved.


Perhaps some day an athlete will tell his sponsor, "The second I get off the gold medal podium, run that commercial! Run it everywhere! Run it all over the world. I have proved that I was the best on that day and I don't need a gold plated medal to remember it."

Marketing lockdown: Olympians must shut down any commerce operations that market themselves and/or a product!!

From tonight till the Olympics are over Olympians are not allowed to market themselves or sell any sort of goods, endorse any product with their likeness or otherwise. If they do what the International Olympic Committee calls "ambush marketing" they are summarily penalized and the penalties are harsh.

However if the goods manufacturer, service provider or retailer is an Olympic sponsor, the marketing of the Olympian's likeness can continue.

Now, guess who wins, guess who loses?

Hint, if I am going to the Olympics and the best I can do is make it to the final in the 1500m Free and hopefully finish in 6th or 7th place, I probably don't have a high-end sponsor paying me tens of thousands of dollars to look cute and sell well. Hence, I may want to sell t-shirts of the my sexy likeness and maybe a coffee mug from my website so as to put something in my bank.

Think of it as an independent band selling t-shirts and CDs out of the trunk of their 2003 Scion XA.

From the Washington Post: 

“...Absolutely terrible,” said Erika Wright, who represents Lochte. Evan Morgenstein, the chief executive of PMG Sports — whose client list includes several prominent swimmers, gymnasts, skiers and other athletes — said the USOC “has rendered these kids indentured servants. ...”

[...] 

The IOC allows official association with the Games — use of the Olympic rings, images of venues and the like — to 11 “worldwide” sponsors, companies such as Coca-Cola, General Electric and McDonald’s. Such deals have been estimated to be worth $100 million for every four years, a period encompassing one Winter and one Summer Games.

The USOC receives 20 percent of the revenue generated from those deals. The USOC also has relationships with a long list of companies — Deloitte, Hilton, Kellogg’s, Nike, among others — that grants those companies rights to use Olympic themes in its ads domestically. Those relationships go a long way toward funding the U.S. Olympic program.

[Link]

Ryan Lochte in an AT&T Commercial - "Warming Up"

FOX Sports attacks Tyler Clary

FOX Sports actually pays Jen Floyd Engel? - She is actually on the payroll for FOX Sports? This is summarily the worst article I have ever read at FOX Sports.

Arguably the most important page in a newspaper is the sports section. It is the most important page because it chronicles man's achievements rather than his failures. I wish it were the business section but companies lie. Hence, the sports page is probably the most honest and most accurate page as well.

So, what did Jen Floyd Engel decide to do with her little corner of FOX Sports? She decided to spank and humiliate Tyler Clary in public over the philosophical points of fairness.

From FOX Sports:

How exactly does one out-incredible eight gold medals in a single Olympics? And what if Phelps does not win every event he swims in London? Will Clary be right? Will everybody agree with him?

How do I say this nicely?

Tyler Clary, meet life.

Life, meet Tyler.

Life, tell Tyler how you work.

Life: I’m not fair.

Kate Upton has a better rack than I do. Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan and Tom Brady have unfair amounts of natural talent, and everything that comes with such talent. Bill Gates does not have to balance his checkbook. And on and on and on. 

[Link]

This would actually be a remarkable lesson if her audience were 8-years-old but they are not. Instead,  her little "straw-man"scolding is really nothing short of both teasing & degrading as she insinuates that Mr. Clary can't understand a phrase more that 6-words long. In fact, I think it crosses over the line into selective bullying. Here is a question, where was Engel when Bob Bowman said much, much worse? Maybe Engel needs six-word sentences to understand my point: How do I say this nicely? 

Tyler is an eleven-time All-American

He is a college graduate.

Speaks both honestly and respectfully. 

He works harder than Phelps. 

He changed his named to honor his stepfather. [Oops, 8-words.] 

He voiced his opinion politely.

So, Ms Engel, thanks for your "mommy scolding" it really added a solid "adults are in charge" sort of feel at FOX Sports.

Time lapse - Aquatic Center London 2012 HD

London Aquatics Center: How to make a fast pool!

Is it ethical to create a pool that has a statistical advantage of producing better times than any other pool? Could we be entering a statistical void where world records are set in selected pools only such as London, Beijing or whatever they cook up fro Brazil?

This pool boasts that its wave and current suppressing technology will make a faster pool. Compound this with the $3,000 Omega starting blocks with its beveled, "track start" edge one has to wonder if we are getting to the point where a pool has to be well above average for a world record to be set?

If exaggerated pool technology is ok then I find any argument against tech suits summarily anemic. An individual can buy a tech suit and its fabric therein can be regulated to keep each suit more or less equal but how fair can it be if specific pools provide superior hydro technology for faster swims by manipulating the water?

Notable quotes  from TVNZ News:

The circulation system, which in backyard pools just keeps the water clean, will also contribute to the fast water. It will be adjusted so the water level remains as constant as possible, minimizing the "bounce-back" the creates turbulence.
[...] 

"The larger a body of water and the further away the reflective surfaces; the better the pool is at absorbing energy," Ireland said. FINA, the international swimming federation, mandates minimum pool dimensions. For London, the main competition pool will exceed the 2-metre required depth by a full metre.
[...] 

If all goes as planned, even with Americans Michael Phelps and Missy Franklin, Australian Stephanie Rice and their rivals all churning up the water like so many human paddle-wheel boats, the surface should be nearly as calm as a pond on windless day.

[Link]

Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat painted Olympic rings in 1984

From HypeBeast.com

"Coinciding with the start of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London, the city’s Gagosian Gallery is now home to Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat‘s collaborative 1985 Olympic Rings painting. ..."

[Link]

USA Swimming really wants people of color to swim! - This partnership illustrates this.

I saw this on Saturday and I was too tired to post it. Then a couple days later a PR person named Charlie sent me this press release straight-up and I was surprised! Moving on, what USA Swimming really wants to achieved is diversity on our sport. That can't be denied and these efforts should be supported...

I am running this press release in it's unfiltered form and I am sorry it's late.

From Simone Smalls PR, Inc:

USA SWIMMING PARTNERS WITH NATIONAL SORORITY ORGANIZATION, SIGMA GAMMA RHO, TO ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION IN THE SPORT OF SWIMMING, FROM LEARN-TO-SWIM TO COMPETITION

About Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.

Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. was founded on November 12, 1922 on the campus of Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana by seven schoolteachers. The sorority’s aim is to enhance the quality of life in the community. Public service, leadership development and education of youth are the hallmark of the organization’s programs and activities. To learn more about Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. and its service initiatives, log [on here: Link]

NEW ORLEANS, LA, July 16, 2012 – On Saturday, July 14, at Sigma Gamma Rho’s biennial Boule celebration in New Orleans, La., USA Swimming representatives announced its new partnership with the historically black sorority. The effort is part of USA Swimming’s SwimToday campaign, a national recruiting effort aimed at arming parents with the information and resources they need to get their children involved in the sport for its health and safety benefits.

A first of its kind for both Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. and USA Swimming, this partnership will accomplish the following:

1) Make water safety education and learn to swim programs a part of the sorority’s mandatory member curriculum and community service outreach beginning this fall. 

2) Provide an easy entry into the sport of swimming through the sorority’s more than 100,000 members and 500 chapters across the United States. 

3) Make water safety a mandatory part of their Rhoer Curriculum as well as part of their youth symposium and Project Reassurance teachings.

Under the terms of the newfound partnership, Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. will function as an extension of USA Swimming’s online SwimToday.org platform, which provides the tools, resources and information that individuals of all ages need to learn to swim, find a learn to swim or competitive swim program, meet their fitness goals and be active in the sport. Visit www.swimtoday.org to view these resources.

“Our new partnership with USA Swimming is a perfect fit within Sigma Gamma Rho’s ongoing efforts to safeguard our youth through our Project Reassurance umbrella theme of Healthy Choices, Healthy Living, Healthy Generations,” says Joann Loveless, International President of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. “Research shows that youth who participate in sports experience a multitude of benefits such as: an increase in discipline, lower teenage pregnancy rates, better grades and higher self-esteem. This collaboration with USA Swimming provides our sisterhood the opportunity to promote these ideals within the local communities of each of our chapters through water safety education and childhood swimming lessons.”

By providing Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. chapters with resources and support to aid in educating its members on a local, regional and national level, USA Swimming hopes to educate the Sigma Gamma Rho community on the benefits of and opportunities available within the sport of swimming. This fall, USA Swimming and Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. will also develop a sorority-specific call-to-action initiative that will focus on highlighting water safety on the grassroots level within their chapters’ communities.

“Partnering with Sigma Gamma Rho offers us the opportunity to reach thousands of families across the nation, and to provide them with a simple entry point into the sport of swimming.” said Matt Farrell, USA Swimming’s Chief Marketing Officer. “By empowering individuals with the resources they need to get their kids started in the sport, we are, helping keep kids safer around the water while opening the door to a beneficial and life-long fitness activity. With all eyes on the pool in London, we also hope that partnerships like this one will help diversify our sport, and increase participation by a historically underrepresented group.”

2012 marks a historic year for USA Swimming as the U.S. Team has never had more than a single team member of African-American descent and none before the 2000 Sydney Games. This year’s London-bound Olympians of African-American descent include veterans Cullen Jones and Anthony Ervin who are returning gold medalists from 2008 and 2000, respectively, and newcomer Lia Neal who, at 17, is the second African-American woman to ever make a U.S. Olympic Swim Team and the first since Olympic Silver Medalist Maritza Correia in 2004. Lia Neal, who is also half Chinese-American, joins a winning legacy of Asian-American women Olympic swimmers like Evelyn Kawamoto (two-time bronze medalist at 1952 Helsinki games), Catherine Fox (two-time gold medalist at 1996 Atlanta games), and Natalie Coughlin, who is returning to London for her third Olympics and is an 11-time Olympic medalist. Nathan Adrian, who is Chinese-American, will also swim for the U.S. again in London having already claimed Olympic gold in Beijing in 2008.

“With the ever-increasing diversity of the sport on the world stage, it is of the utmost importance for USA Swimming to play a proactive role in helping kids become safer around the water as well as to provide opportunities for them to excel both as a team and as individuals,” said Talia Mark, Multicultural Marketing Manager for USA Swimming. “With all eyes on the pool in London, we hope to inspire kids of all backgrounds to get involved in the sport, this is where we believe Sigma Gamma Rho’s expertise in community outreach can play an integral role.”

Throughout 2012 and beyond, USA Swimming looks to continue to expand the reach of the important message of water safety education and learn to swim programs, as well as the benefits of swimming for health and fitness, and increase the accessibility of competitive swimming programs through its SwimToday.org campaign and partnerships like this one with Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.

For more information about getting involved with USA Swimming, to learn to swim, to join a competitive swim team or to swim for health and fitness, please visit... [here: Link]

[*]Approximately 10 people drown every day in the U.S., and more than one in five fatal drowning victims are children younger than 14, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Furthermore, 60-70 percent of the U.S.’s African-American and Hispanic children cannot swim, and African-American children drown at a rate nearly three times higher than that of their Caucasian peers. Of children who come from a non-swimming household, only 13 percent of them will ever learn to swim, according to a national research study by the USA Swimming Foundation and the University of Memphis. Drowning is also a silent killer as most young children who drowned in pools were last seen in the home, had been out of sight less than five minutes, and were in the care of one or both parents at the time, according to the Present P. Child Drowning study.

Cavic profile: For those who ever had a back injury, this article is pretty inspiring!

Milorad Čavić was born in the OC; (Orange County, California), to Serbian parents. A lot of famous butterfly swimmers have come out of the OC and Gwen Stefani is one of them!

 Čavić has swam for Serbia in the past three Olympics and is currently rated third in the world in the 100m Butterfly. At the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing it appeared that Čavić had out touched Michael Phelps defeating Phelps in his signature 100m Butterfly event but Phelps had stopped the clock first beating Čavić by a scant one-hundreth-of a-second. To put that slice of time into perspective: an eye back is 3-to-4-time slower than that hundredth-of-a-second finish. It was both a victory and a loss that was talked about for months.

See this New York Times article for an explanation and recap: [Link]

When I read the article I got the feeling that Čavić is so over the Phelps rivalry and seems to appreciate his health, his talent, and his future way more than a single race that decides who gets a gold plated medallion. You see Čavić sustained a back injury shortly after Beijing that both broke and humbled him. He could not tie his shoes, he needed assistance getting out of bed, he could not even dry his legs after a swim because the pain was so bad.

Friends, family members and doctors told him that he could never return to his former greatness... but he did and he is proud of that. Now he is rated number three in the world.

From Sports Illustrated at CNN: 

Like Phelps, Cavic is planning to retire after the London Games[.] 

"At this point, nothing else motivates me. It's just all about the Olympics, and if I could win an Olympic medal, that would be the perfect ending to my career," he said. 

"If I don't win a medal, I just hope that when I touch the wall I'm going to feel that inner peace, knowing that I gave everything that I could," added Cavic, who is 28. "I'm no longer a kid. I'm ready to walk away as soon as this Olympics is over." Cavic already has plans for his post-swimming career 

"I'm a candidate for the athlete commission of the IOC," he said. "I hope I get elected to that, and that would be one step toward what I hope to get into someday -- sports politics." 

[Link]

Will Michael Phelps or Ryan Lochte "belly flop" in 2012? - Nope, but these guys did!

Welcome to the 16th Annual "Belly Flop Showdown." May the plushiest belly win! - Here is a link to the photo gallery at the Denver Post: [Link]

Found a movie of it over at Laughing Squid as well: [Link]

Rome Neal: “My daughter’s name is Lia Neal and she just made it to become an Olympic swimmer, and she’ll be swimming in the Olympics in 2012"

Rome Neal is a Jazz singer located in New York, city. Recently he took to his microphone and told his audience some really good news.

From the New York Times:

“My daughter’s name is Lia Neal and she just made it to become an Olympic swimmer, and she’ll be swimming in the Olympics in 2012 in London, England, the 4x100 relay,” Neal said.

The audience applauded and cheered enthusiastically. “Lia is 17 years old,” he said, “the second African-American female swimmer to make it to the Olympics.”

[Link]

A must read especially for parents.

Ryan Lochte - lead feature athlete in US Magazine's "American Heroes"

Was at the store this morning after a long-course-meters workout and while checking out my two gallons of milk among other items I notice that US Magazine has an Amercian Heroes issue.

So, the celebrity industrial complex is hard at work now picking some temporary American icons for the typical American housewife to adore. (Wait, do we have housewives anymore?) In the half-inch thick magazine I was surprised to see that Ryan Lochte got top billing or he was the first athlete profiled over all the rest. Next came Michael Phelps.

I was surprised and it also taught me something both PR-and-marketing wise: Never pre announce your retirement unless it's your farewell tour and you are getting a cut of the ticket sales.

When Phelps announced his retirement some years ago, he simply put a shelf-life date on his endorsement potential.  In other words, if he never talked about retirement I suspect he would have been on the front page of that magazine and booked solid till 2016.

Here is what Ryan Lochte's website has to say about it: [Link]

This I Learned From an Info-Graphic: The Tug of war was an Olympic event!

Oh, I agree with the creator of this graphic, they have to bring the tug of war back! Just get rid of Bicycle Motocross which belongs in the X-Games anyway. Besides, 11-year-olds don't watch the Olympics anymore.

So, note in the infographic above what a pivotal role aquatics has played in the Olympic games. I am impressed but I am worried at the same time. Why hasn't our sport broken out after a complete century of Olympic games? Hmmm, perhaps because it needs to change with the times?

Click on the graphic to enlarge it.

Tyler Clary did not call out Michael Phelps!

Tyler Clary is being scolded by the opportunistic press to paint him as something that he is not.

Tyler Clary is a strong capable man but the sportswriters in the past 48-hours are setting him up as an ad hoc straw-man for "calling out" America's "sweetie", Michael Phelps. Clary never called out Michael Phelps and Phelps has seemingly fallen for it or has pretended to. (Reports say that Phelps is upset.)

The press loves conflict and reporters need ink or electrons; (if it's the internet), to stay employable. So, stretching the truth goes a very long way for a reporter. In the last Olympic-cycle they chose Alain Bernard as their straw man and now they are doing it to Tyler because it is profitable.

Conflict, drama, and fear sell papers. "If it bleeds, it leads" permeate media newsrooms all throughout America.  Sportscasters loved  Mohammed Ali as they pretended to loathe his poetry and lack of manners. Matt Drudge, fearing Hillary Clinton was ill stated on his radio show with high emotion: "Hillary dear, take care of yourself. We need you..." Later he mentioned elsewhere: "I need Hillary Clinton. I need to be part of her world. That's my bank."

"That's my bank!?..."

That is a pretty revealing statement and I think it applies here to Tyler Clary who is in my opinion is being "mugged" in the press with abject glee and forethought for he is not the new "Ryan Lochte", his "arch rival."

Everything Clary said about Phelps has been uttered in one way or another by Phelps' coach, Bob Bowman, in both the press and on TV yet that is not ever mentioned - Compare the evidence.

Tyler Clary as quoted at CNN:

“The fact that he doesn’t have to work as hard to get that done, it’s a real shame,” Clary told the paper. “I think it’s too bad. You see that all too often, where you get athletes that are incredibly talented that really take it for granted. I think the things he could have done if he’d worked as hard as I do would have been even more incredible than what he has pulled off.

[Link]

Now let's get Bob Bowman version of Michael Phelps' work ethic.

Bob Bowman as quoted at ESPN 

Form ESPN:

"I used every trick I had," Bowman said. "At first, I tried to be really patient, which is not a strong suit. I acted like it didn't bother me even though it killed me. Then I said, 'Screw that,' and got all over him and he missed like two straight weeks." 

[...] 

Bowman said he confronted Phelps about his commitment a few times, describing their conversations like this: "He wouldn't show up and I'd say, 'Where the f--- are you?' And he'd be equally urbane and intellectual, and then would miss two more weeks."

Tyler Clary, after seeing an effigy of his "straw-man-self" burn at Faranheit 451 as coaches, pundits and other people who take this recreational sport as seriously as religion, takes the high road and apologizes via Twitter.

He had nothing to apologize about. Nothing at all for everything he said was true and published elsewhere, but perception trumps reality and Tyler took the high road because it has a better view and apologize to the "DIVA."

So now that I have gone negative, I need to offer something positive:

There is a famous story about President Ronald Reagan, George Bush and a guy named James Baker. I will cut to the chase and tell you the ending.  George Bush after saying terrible things about Ronald Reagan when he ran against him for the Republican presidential nominee became his Vice President. James Baker who called Reagan's economic policies "Voodoo economics" became his Secretary of State.

Ronald Reagan turned enemies into both friends and staunch allies. Michael Phelps could have done the same thing. I recommend he read Chris Matthews' book, Hardball. 

Lochte relishes the rivalry - Says it could "change the sport".

Have you noticed that when Phelps and Lochte talk about racing each other, they talk as if their 8-man finals are a merely a "two-man final?" It is as if the remaining six-swimmers are simply "movie extras" sent down from "central casting" for NBC.

From RTE Sport:

He will compete in four individual events in London and in two of them, the 200m and 400m individual medleys, he'll take on Phelps, owner of a record 14 Olympic gold medals. Lochte relishes the rivalry -- saying he believes that it could "change the sport".

[Link]

Phelps and Lochte do not have a lock on the gold medals they pursue and these games will be our toughest ever in the pool.

As for Lochte: Have you seen the 200-free times posted between last years 2011 FINA World Championships of Swimming and today? The times separating the top six swimmers in the 200-free is only a 1/2-second and please note that Yannick Agnel is the top seed if you just go by the times.

As for Phelps: In the 100-fly the top four swimmers are within a 1/2-second of each other and Tyler McGill is just an "eye-blink" away form beating him.

Finally, both Phelps and Lochte have to contend with each other in two grueling events, the 200-and-400 IM. As of late history has shown that they do have a tendency to trade places. If they split the difference, Lochte's legacy dilutes.

So, is Lochte correct when he says that his time has come and that he could change this sport? I don't think so. What would change the sport is if Ryan Lochte matches Phelps' accomplishments or surpasses him then the sport will change.  I hold up Matt Biondi as an example: 5 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze medal at the 1988 Olympics yet only the old timers within this sport remember him. Will anybody outside the sport really remember Ryan Lochte if he "just" matches Matt Biondi's accomplishment?

If Ryan is going to be remembered, it will be due to his good personality and great looks not his medal haul. Opponents are in the way and we may see the rise of China a new swimming superpower.

Diana Nyad documentary at You Tube - It's official, she's boss!

"... The documentary, which runs 17 minutes, chronicles Diana’s history as a swimmer and her ongoing mission to swim from Cuba to Florida..."

Some underwater stuff of her swimming too. I now know why her shoulder hurts her. Her stroke is great if your swimming a 50-free and you need lots of power, It's throughly anti-shoulder to the side she breathes from if you are going to swim from Cuba to Florida. She should adopt a Kara-Lynn Joyce stroke and bend at the elbow when she starts her pull.

Diana Nyad has quite a resumé. When the public at large or those individuals way outside our sport think of famous swimmers they can only name three. Michael Phelps, Mark SPitz and Diana Nyad. This is worth a look!

USA Swimming provides Indiana university performance differences between male and female childhood athletes!

USA Swimming contributes to an athletic gender study that may be potentially groundbreaking.

From Science Daily:

The study analyzed data provided by USA Swimming that consisted of the best 50-yard freestyle performances for all USA Swimming-registered male and female swimmers ages 6 to 19 who competed from 2005 to 2010. This included 1.9 million swims. 

The study found no difference in swim performance in children younger than 8. It also found little difference in 11-and-12-year-olds.

[Link]

This suggests to me that male/female results within the preadolescent age groups do not have to be gender specific. I wonder what the positive or negative consequences would be if that was attempted?

How fast is 100th-of-a second? Visa shows you with the help of Michael Phelps and Morgan Freeman

Megan sent us this and it's pretty boss. Thanks Megan!

This Visa spot titled, “100th of a Second,” features Michael Phelps’ legendary .01 second win in the100m butterfly as he out-touched Milorad Cavic to give him his 7th gold medal in the 2008  Beijing Olympic Games.

The spot is woven with footage of that dramatic finish with high-rez, slow-motion photography, of natural events within nature that take more than .01 seconds – the beating of a hummingbird’s wings, lighting striking, a blink of an eye – while the Morgan Freeman ultimately asks us fans “just think of the cheers if lighting strikes twice.”

Ryan Lochte in Men's Health Magazine: From Big Macs to recovery meals

"My recovery meal is two grilled chicken breasts with Alfredo sauce, whole-grain spaghetti, and a salad with lemon juice and olive oil," Lochte, 27, tells Men's Health this month. [Link]

Even ADWEEK is disgusted by how exploited Olympic athletes are!

ADWEEK is a weekly publication that covers all sorts of media markets from print to internet.

ADWEEK specializes in covering the relationships between big business and their creative agencies so both sets of corporations are friends of ADWEEK.

Hence, like the old saying goes, " Only Richard Nixon could go to China," only ADWEEK can out exploitation of the Olympic athlete:

Ann Killion writes:

"...one of America’s top steeplechase competitors, Ben Bruce (who has bunked at [Nick] Symmonds’ place in Eugene, Ore.), was forced to go on food stamps after failing to convince Nike to increase his meager stipend. ..." 

"...To make up the shortfall, synchronized swimmers in California work shifts at a Santa Clara bingo hall. ..." 

This spring, a group of 20 Olympic athletes, including former greats Mark Spitz, Dara Torres and Jackie Joyner-Kersee, sued TOP sponsor Samsung for using their names and images without permission in the company’s much-publicized Genome Project. The Facebook app allows fans to see how they’re connected to famous Olympians past and present. But they say the company never asked for the rights to use their images and names. [...] “I would have thought someone in the room, at some point, would have said, ‘I think we need to get written consent from the athletes,’” says attorney Rich Foster 

[Link]

But how much money are we talking about here? How much revenue is being generated off the backs of the athletes? The ADWEEK article states "... The Olympics will generate $6 billion to $7 billion, possibly more, in sponsorship and advertising revenue. ..."

Although these publications and blogs write articles decrying exploitation, a hand full of Athletes like Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps, or the "dream team" are millionaires and they have no reason to be an advocate for the poorly paid athlete. The only way change will be effected is if the athletes as a huge collective body refused to participate. Read the article!