More than 20 years ago, one of Latvia's most influential athletes was the race walker Aigars Fadejevs. His activities had a great public response, and even in such a difficult and specific discipline as race walking, people were ready to follow him. But 20 years have passed since Fadejevs' last Olympic start, and race walking has long since lost the ground it gained. And athletics in general. While there has been no shortage of great athletes over the last 20 years, their traction in the society has been much lower, as has their ability to attract sponsorship.
"The stage is there, the opportunity to prove yourself is there. But in Fadejevs there was power. He came with power and took athletics forward. He was the one who put it on his shoulders at the time. Today, that is what is missing," says Raimonds Zeps, a sports marketing specialist.
Aigars Nords, an advertising professional and organizer of running events, points out that many factors have to come together for an athlete to catch the attention of both the public and sponsors. A lot depends on the discipline chosen.
"If your sport has great potential as a grassroots sport, if your sport - be it basketball, running or volleyball - can be practiced on a daily basis by any amateur, your potential automatically multiplies," says Nords.
During the Tokyo Olympics, athletics became the most popular sport on TikTok, surpassing even football. The reason is that in most disciplines, the gold medal-winning performance can be shown in a 10 to 15-second video, which fits very well with social media and people's digital habits.
Nords added: "On top of all that, you have to be super-charismatic, a little bit goofy, creative, intelligent, and so on. You have to be someone who can excite a crowd."
Nords believes that only runner Agate Caune has the potential to become an influential, sponsor-favored star. Raimonds Zeps agrees but does not rule out that a few other athletes also have marketing potential. The Latvian Athletics Association believes that there have been bright successes and stars in the last 20 years, so the popularity of athletes has not hindered the development of the sport.
"I think what has hindered us the most is the low funding that we have had all along. In the last two years, when we finally have priorities and athletics is halfway well funded, we can ensure the participation of young people in international competitions, which is not unimportant," says Dmitrijs Miļkevivičs, Secretary General of the Latvian Athletics Association.
Thanks to the new funding criteria, this year the Latvian Athletics Associationhas earned the highest amount of state funding. However, sports marketing experts point out that assistance in athlete branding should be an additional service to the Latvian Olympic Team, as few federations can afford to hire staff with good brand management skills.
