In 2005, Octagon undertook a new project for its Olympic athlete clients dubbed Sick Tricks, consisting of video that snowboarders and skateboarders filmed of themselves performing dangerous stunts. The action sports denizens would then snail mail the tapes to the agency. In an era just before the iPhone, well enough Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, Octagon would then upload the videotapes to a website designed to promote the athletes. 

The laborious process underscored — and to a large extent still does — the lengths Olympic athletes have long taken to build a personal brand compared to their team sports peers, and even those in established individual pursuits like tennis and golf. Olympic athletes generally crash through into the public consciousness once every four years, and sometimes only that, if they are one-and-done Olympians. They also don’t earn salaries or prize money, so capitalizing on Olympics glory through social media, other content and endorsements is the principal way to monetize that fame.

At a time when some professional athletes are increasingly creating their own content (see THR‘s inaugural sports agent and manager list) and driving their brands, that’s long been the path to riches for Olympians.

“Where you can find any agent or agencies that focus on Olympic sports, there is no standardized league deal, there is no players association,’ said Peter Carlisle, a long-standing Olympics agent with Octagon who recounted the rudimentary days of Sick Tricks. “So it’s, like, 100 percent of the revenues are coming through marketing, right? I mean, you end up making it the priority; you end up investing in things like content, PR, marketing. Nothing’s going to come to you.”

For Olympians who want to be more than a fleeting comet, a steady stream of content is necessary. LeBron James, Steph Curry and others may generate buckets of content, but they don’t have to. Carlisle’s client Michael Phelps has sold an autobiography, was featured in a sports documentary, The Weight of Gold, and even recently gave swim lessons to the Baltimore Ravens. 

Or take Ilona Maher, the women’s rugby player who is now among the top female athletes, as measured by her combined 8.8 million follower count on TikTok and Instagram. She first got noticed at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics with TikToks on everyday observations, such as a viral one on how the beds were made out of cardboard. She is also known for the message of body positivity in her social-media missives.

She posts often six to eight times a day, and is a content factory with appearances on Dancing with the Stars, a new podcast and yet-to-be-released documentary about her produced by Hello Sunshine. Filming is completed and her agency, Range Sports, is currently shopping it to distributors.

“She regards herself as 50 percent one of the most badass rugby players on the planet, and 50 percent she’s a creator, right?” said Lowell Taub, who oversees athlete marketing at Range Sports and is a veteran Olympics agent. “Most athletes are begrudgingly, 90-10, or the good ones are 75-25.”

Since right before the Paris Olympics, where Maher and her team won a bronze medal, she has generated eight figures in revenue, Taub said, an astounding amount for an athlete who plays a sport well outside the mainstream of American sports. She earns money largely through sponsorships and ads.

“Almost everyone in my shoes in the industry would think, pretty improbable or impossible, before the Paris Olympics,” said Taub of Maher’s business success. “Rugby would struggle to be one of the 40 most popular sports in the United States of America. And I think you can argue that she is one of the five most popular women’s athletes in the country right now.”

Taub does note that Olympians are not totally at a disadvantage to their team sport counterparts.  Olympians play for their country and companies want to align with patriotism.  And with the Olympics gaining wilder exposure through the efforts of broadcaster NBC/Peacock, the platform for the Olympic athletes is larger than ever.

“Since they only are on the global stage, call it 100 days every four years, they have a unique opportunity, with their athletic excellence and their ability to win a medal for their country,” he said. “A great Olympian might have a better window to exploit for six months every four years, than a solid rank-and-file professional stick and ball sport athlete, because it is only once every four years. And these brands do want storytelling about the journey, standing on that podium on behalf of your country.”