Not-So-Precious Metal

Winning an Olympic medal is every sportsperson’s dream. Everyone in the world knows you and you become the nation’s toast of the moment. That’s also the moment you need to cash in on your popularity with the masses to make your money off of endorsements and brands. An Olympian is not a cricketer who plays for 200 days a year every year. They train for four years for an event that barely lasts a month. Their moment of reckoning is brief. And they can’t hope to compete with cricketers in terms of the fees they command. Consider this: Virat Kohli, when he burst on to the scene used to charge around Rs 20 lakh a brand. Today he commands crores. After Vijender Singh, Abhinav Bindra and Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore won Olympic medals the most they made was Rs 40 lakh.