zohan
800 dude wrote:
I'd also add that, setting aside legal considerations, one could just as easily say that the title sponsors are freeloading off of the athletes' sponsors. The IOC is only relevant because it owns a valuable trademark. The real value of the Games comes from the athletes themselves, and their performances are made possible by many individual sponsors who are then prevented from capitalizing on their investments during the moment when they are most likely to pay off.
I bet to differ. The real value is from the prestige of the event, the "who" isn't relevant.
Ex. if some dude were to win the Oly 5000m with a 15:00 finishing time the slowness of the race wouldn't matter because forever he would be an Olympic Gold Medalist.