When
Sasha Cohen stumbled to land a silver, not gold, medal last week, she dashed the hopes of U.S. marketers hoping a Stateside star would emerge to become the face of the Turin Olympic Games.
U.S. athletes who had the opportunity to become that face consistently self-destructed.
Chad Hedrick and
Shani Davis both won gold medals, but will be remembered more for their petty sniping.
Lindsey Jacobellis will be remembered for the silver that could have been gold if not for her showboating;
Bode Miller for barely showing up to compete.
"I think the lack of sportsmanship that came through is really going to hurt them," says
Gil Pagovich, VP of Maxximum Marketing.
Snowboarder
Shaun White and skater
Joey Cheek come out of the Games as the most bankable stars.
But if forced to pick a winner, analysts say it's NBC's rival nets, who showed they need not play dead each Olympiad.
"We're undergoing a paradigm shift in the evolution of the Olympics as a media platform," says Sports Business Group prexy
David Carter. "The big winner is counterprogramming; the other nets aren't standing down."
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