Toronto Star, by Randy Starkman

MONTREAL—If Kaillie Humphries’ Olympic journey were a television commercial, it might say something like this:

Cost of bobsleigh runners: $40,000.

Monthly paycheque: $1,500.

Money still owed to dad: $5,000.

Value of Olympic gold medal: Priceless.

Result of sponsorship search to date: Fruitless.

It’s one of the great myths of Canadian Olympic sport – that a gold medal is a million-dollar lottery ticket.

“I’ve kind of fallen in the same trap thinking that as soon as you have that gold medal around your neck, you’re set for life,” said Humphries. “But I’m not from Korea or Japan where that happens.”

Even Humphries’ childhood hero, 1992 Olympic swim champ Mark Tewksbury, thought he’d hit the jackpot with his first Games medal, a relay silver in 1988 at Seoul.

“Literally, it equated to $100 to start a running race in Calgary,” said Tewksbury, now a successful entrepreneur. “That is the only money I got after Seoul. I had to make it happen. It’s not an easy gravy train.”

Sports marketer Keith McIntyre believes that train has already left the station for Canada’s medallists from the 2010 Vancouver Games. No major endorsement deals have been reported yet and McIntyre expects there will be very few, despite all the hype around Canada’s record 14 gold medals.

“What happens after the euphoria, though, is reality very quickly kicks in,” said McIntyre, who’s worked with many top Olympians. “And what I find when reality kicks in is companies are off to the next piece of business sooner rather than later. . . . We’re discussing other sports; we’re not discussing winter sports right now.”

Marcel Aubut, incoming president of the Canadian Olympic Committee, acknowledges the problem and plans aggressive promotion like Friday’s parade of athletes through the city streets here and a $1,250-a-plate gala dinner featuring Prime Minister Stephen Harper as honourary president.

“We have to keep the flame alive all of the time,” said Aubut. “The reason why I do (Friday’s events) is totally due to reason it was going to die two months after the Games already. The attitude is: ‘It was something great, but it’s over.’ That’s not what I want. I think it’s a beginning.”

The truth is that big money has never been there for Olympic champions in Canada, even for those featured in national advertising campaigns.

Endorsement deals for a gold medallist can sometimes be worth less than $25,000 and rarely get as high as $225,000, according to one insider. Getting your face on a cereal box won’t get you rich, either. It can net you from $10,000 to $75,000 based on your notoriety.

The richest deal signed by a Canadian Olympian is believed to be Cindy Klassen’s multi-year contract with Manitoba Telecom Services for a reported $1 million after she won five medals at the 2006 Turin Games.

“Deals like that are few and far between,” said women’s hockey star Hayley Wickenheiser. “That’s the reality of living in Canada also versus maybe the U.S., the way our corporate tax structure is set up, the way we value Olympic and amateur sport. But I think it could change slowly. Coming out of Vancouver, you see the difference in the exposure.”

Some athletes are more fortunate than others. Skier Erik Guay didn’t get an Olympic medal but by winning a super-G Crystal Globe at the end of the season earned more than $200,000 in bonuses to push his season earnings towards $1 million. But he’s in one of the few Olympic sports with a big industry behind it.

“That just doesn’t happening in kayaking, I can tell you from personal experience,” said Olympic champion Adam Van Koeverden. “I’ve won all the races you can win and there’s no six-figure paycheque for us. That’s the nature of the beast.”

At the basic minimum, Canadian athletes receive $1,500 per month from the federal government in carding. Athletes with medal potential are eligible for extra support with equipment and training through Own The Podium. As well, about 80 per cent of the Olympic team got $6,000 from the Canadian Athletes Now Fund. Also, there's a group of Canadian businessmen called B2ten which invested some $3 million over the Olympic quadrennial in supporting about 20 athletes including moguls skiers Jenn Heil and Alexandre Bilodeau.

Skeleton racer Jon Montgomery, who rocketed into Canadians’ hearts with a beer jug in his hand, is a very busy guy these days and making decent money with appearances across the country – he rates as much as $12,000 for a speaking gig, according to his agent Russell Reimer.

But Montgomery has no sponsorship contracts just yet and is learning to modify expectations.

“I just recently found out that Ross Rebagliati, the biggest deal he got after the ‘98 Olympics was $50,000,” said Montgomery. “I thought his Roots deal was a million-dollar deal. I’m in amateur athletics and I’m still under the illusion there’s big money out there.”

Speed skater Catriona Le May Doan, the only Canadian to defend her Olympic title, is one athlete who understands the landscape.

She didn’t get a single endorsement deal after her first gold medal at the 1998 Nagano Olympics until a small Toronto company stepped forward a year later after reading about her plight. As she recalls it, the toughest thing wasn’t the lack of sponsorship.

“I think the most frustrating part was not that we expected it, but it’s that other people expected it,” she said. “It hasn’t changed. It never does. The athletes don’t do it for the money. But it’s tough when you keep hearing about how you should be making money.”

When a couple of athletes preparing for the Vancouver Games told Le May Doan they expected their lives to change with a gold medal, she quickly straightened them out.

“I was trying not to be rude but I said ‘Regardless of your results, your life will not change. You may want it to, but it will not.’”

Things improved for Le May Doan heading into the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics and, when she pulled off a repeat, she did even better and since retiring has worked very hard to build up her business, or “brand” as the athletes call it. She still has some endorsements, does broadcasting, and is a sought after public speaker who’ll fly across the country at a moment’s notice to fill in.

Montgomery isn’t under any delusions about what it will take.

“I do know that I’m going to actively try to market myself, be aware that I’ve got to essentially create a brand, a Jon Montgomery brand and hopefully present myself in a professional and proper manner and hopefully can parlay this into something that is lasting and going to at least provide for me for the next four years so I can continue to focus on my athletics,” he said.

There’s the rub. Many of the athletes who won medals in Vancouver plan to continue at least through the 2014 Sochi Olympics. It’s not so much that they’re looking to pad their bank account as to be able to compete at the highest level without going broke.

The $20,000 bonus Humphries gets from the Canadian Olympic Committee for a gold medal, less taxes, will go to pay off debts from buying equipment, including $5,000 owed to the Bank of Dad, her biggest supporter to date.

Humphries has worked the last few years as a customer service rep at cable giant Shaw, putting in 40 hours per week in the summer and paring her hours down as the winter approached. In the Olympic season, she worked right up until leaving for World Cup competitions in Europe in the fall while training fulltime.

“I know European competitors don’t have another job,” she said. “Their job is to train.”

She admits to being overwhelmed at trying to navigate the sponsorship marketplace. Hurtling down that treacherous Whistler track at 146.9 kilometres per hour seems a cinch by comparison.

“It’s a pressure that honestly feels far greater than anything I dealt with in Vancouver,” said Humphries. “And I was completely unprepared for it.”

Ditto for Olympic speed skating champion Christine Nesbitt, who readily admits she’s not good at selling herself. A family friend is helping her out, but she’s also considering training outside Canada if things don’t work out here.

“It’s making me nervous,” she said. “It’d be nice to have sponsor support to rely on.”

Humphries is being helped by hockey agent Ian Pulver, whose clients include prospective No. 1 NHL draft choice Tyler Seguin, and Toronto marketing executive Mike Beckerman. She met them through a family friend and they’re working for her pro bono. They hope to find a company who will value her willingness to share her journey with their employees and the public.

Pulver has found the amateur sport scene vexing. He was stunned to learn the athletes have to buy a lot of their own equipment and chafes at the fact Bobsleigh Canada owns the prime advertising spots on the sled and uniform, leaving athletes very little to sell to potential sponsors.

“Everyone celebrated the gold medals and the Olympics and it was one of Canada’s shining moments, but when they turned the lights out these athletes are left to their own devices for the most part to train for the next four years,” said Pulver.

http://olympics.thestar.com/2010/article/800082--turning-gold-into-cash-isn-t-easy-for-canadian-olympians