Noah Lyles is the world’s fastest man. 

The 27-year-old American won a gold medal in the 100-meter sprint Sunday after eking out a win over Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson by just five-thousandths of a second. 

Lyles, who is sponsored by Adidas, was already gaining popularity—and notoriety—prior to Paris not only for his success on the track but also for his brash personality. The win cements him as one of the greatest sprinters of all-time. His gold medal comes with a $50,000 prize, and he had reportedly signed the richest endorsement deal for any runner since Usain Bolt. 

This win, however, should also catapult him into one of sports’ most marketable athletes, and lead to even bigger paydays. One way to get there: A signature sneaker, which he has now told Adidas he wants.

Lyles returns to the track Monday for Round 1 of the 200-meter race, and he has a chance to become the first Olympian since Usain Bolt in 2016 to win both the 100-meter and 200-meter events, known as the “double.” He achieved his first “double” at the 2023 World Athletics Championships.

Nike grew into a household name during the 1980s in large part because its partnership with Michael Jordan became one of the most successful brand-athlete connections in history.

Four decades later, Nike is in the middle of one of its most tumultuous periods, and it’s once again leaning on its athletes—this time to right the ship.

Nike cofounder Phil Knight sent a letter to its contingent of athletes in the Paris Olympics, stressing the importance of winning, according to Bloomberg.

“We need you. The world needs you. Now more than ever,” Knight wrote.

The company may, in fact, need its Olympic athletes—which include the likes of LeBron James and Sha’Carri Richardson (above)—to put its Swoosh alongside some gold medals as its stock has dropped by 30% this year, including around 20% in a single day in late June after it announced a fiscal-year decline.

This followed an announcement in February it would cut about 2% of its workforce, though a report by The Oregonian indicated the company has actually seen a reduction of about 5% of its staff in the fiscal year ending on May 31, 2024.

Rising Competition

One of Nike’s issues stems from the rise of other brands.

Smaller brands have taken advantage of holes in Nike’s strategy, such as On, the Swiss start-up that focuses on tennis and running to earn market share. The brand sponsors athletes like tennis legend Roger Federer and women’s world No. 1 Iga Świątek—who finished with a bronze medal in Paris—and world-champion runner Hellen Obiri.

Nike started as a running brand when it was founded by Knight in the 1960s, but it’s losing its grip on the space as brands like On, Asics, New Balance, Hoka, and even Adidas—who sponsors 100-meter and 200-meter world champion sprinter Noah Lyles—have put extra focus on the sport.

Winning Strategy

It’s no surprise Nike is putting the onus on its players. The company’s recovery plan is focused on regaining its brand equity. 

CEO John Donahoe said in June that the brand is “reinvesting $1 billion in consumer-facing activities,” even though it already spends about $4 billion annually on marketing efforts. 

“This Olympics … it will be our largest media spend,” Nike president of consumer, product, and brand Heidi O’Neill told Reuters in April. “This will be the most investment and the biggest moment for Nike in years.”

Some of Nike’s prominent athletes have won gold in Paris, including Scottie Scheffler in men’s golf and Zheng Qinwen in women’s tennis. However, a couple of notable names have had to settle for silver, including Richardson in the 100-meter sprint and Carlos Alcaraz in men’s tennis.

Surfing in Tahiti has proved to be one of the most captivating parts of the 2024 Olympics, from Colin Jost’s ongoing medical crises to a viral shot of a surfer suspended in midair.

But for all the buzz it’s creating, surfing still doesn’t get a full share of media-rights revenue, and it won’t until the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

The international federations of the different Olympic sports, known as the ASOIF, or Association of Summer Olympic International Federations, all receive a cut of revenue from broadcast rights at the Games. The total pot was $540 million in Rio and Tokyo, and the ASOIF asked the International Olympic Committee for at least $596 million in Paris. It’s a fair ask, because the IOC made $3.1 billion in TV rights from the Tokyo Games. More popular sports like swimming, track, and gymnastics get a bigger cut (World Athletics got $39 million after Tokyo), and revenue is divvied up by tiers down to the least popular sports (rugby, golf, and modern pentathlon got $12.98 million apiece from Tokyo).

None of the new sports in Tokyo received any of the broadcast revenue because they were added through a new, expedited process, according to surfing magazine The Inertia. But the International Surfing Association got only $2.7 million from the IOC to carry it over from Tokyo to Paris, The Inertia reported. That’s at least a step up from the “hundreds of thousands” of dollars the federation made before its Olympic debut, its president Fernando Aguerre told Bloomberg.

Ahead of Paris, the ASOIF amended its rules in 2022 so that full members (those who receive broadcast revenue) need to have competed in the three more recent Summer Games. That set back surfing’s share of the rights to 2028.

The sport will now enter another multiyear stretch when it’s technically an Olympic sport but doesn’t get the same resources. Compare that to FIFA, which on top of its ASOIF cash injection from the Olympics, will get broadcast revenue from the men’s and women’s World Cups and Club World Cups. Surfing’s deals with NBCUniversal and Globo aren’t quite as lucrative.

“We will continue to do the best we can with the modest resources at our disposal to self-fund the organization, but at least we have the certainty that at the LA28 Olympics we will be part of the revenue distribution, which is important,” Aguerre told The Inertia in the fall.

At Home in Cali

The next Games should also be the first time surfers get a traditional Olympic experience. Team USA surfer John John Florence told Front Office Sports his team didn’t stay in the Olympic Village in Tokyo due to distance, and Tahiti is nearly 10,000 miles from Paris, with surfers shacked up in local residents’ homes or aboard a cruise ship. 

Given Southern California’s multitude of surfing options, including World Surf League favorite Lower Trestles in San Clemente, Calif., it’s likely surfers will finally join the festivities in 2028.