24 Hour Fitness Picks U.S. Athletes For Olympic Marketing Efforts
By Tripp Mickle, Staff Writer, SportsBusiness Journal
U.S. Olympic Team partner 24 Hour Fitness today is expected to name Kerri Walsh, Jeremy Wariner, Adam Wheeler, Alicia Sacramone, Adler Volmar and Brian Olson as the company's team of athletes ahead of the Beijing Games. The athletes will appear in the fitness chain's advertising, make promotional appearances at clubs and develop signature workouts for club members that will be posted online. 24 Hour Fitness CMO Tony Wells: "We picked them on their performance to date, the popularity of the sports they're involved with and the likelihood that they will bring home gold." 24 Hour Fitness also will operate a training center in Beijing that will offer U.S. athletes a place to workout anytime during the Games. The center will be at Beijing Normal Univ. and will be staffed by 24 trainers who work for the chain. Those trainers will meet with the USOC sports performance team in Colorado Springs this Thursday and Friday in preparation for their work this summer. Wells: "Our ability to be the team behind the team gives us a chance to be closest and most integral to the team of all the sponsors out there." 24 Hour Fitness has been a USOC partner since '03. It is in ongoing conversations with the organization about continuing that partnership through the 2012 London Olympics.
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