Top, from left: Ilona Maher, Rebeca Andrade, Thomas Ceccon, Henrik Christiansen and Mondo Duplantis.
Bottom, from left: Suni Lee, Noah Lyles, Summer McIntosh, Stephen Nedoroscik and Giorgia Villa.
It’s not only about winning medals anymore. More than ever, the 2024 Olympics presented athletes with the opportunity to win followers and, ultimately, brand deals through a combination of their athletic prowess and personality on the world’s stage.
Following are 10 names that lit the social media torch in Paris and are now poised to flex their endorsement muscle.
Also read: Inside NBCU’s Olympics creator strategy
The Brazilian gymnast wearing gold eye shadow gave Simone Biles and her U.S. teammates a run for their money, winning gold in the floor exercise and silver medals in the all-around and vault. Her story is one of perseverance, enduring reconstructive knee surgery three times between 2015 and 2018. Known as “Rebeyoncé” in Brazil for her love of Beyoncé, Andrade has deals with brands including Parmalat, Volvo, Havaianas, Vult cosmetics and the Kraft Heinz-owned condiment brand Hemmer.
Andrade has 2.6 million TikTok followers and 10.1 million on Instagram. Her followers grew by 282.84% during the Olympic games, according to Tagger by Sprout Social.
Thomas Ceccon, a handsome Italian swimmer said by one Instagram commenter to “look like a Roman emperor,” won a gold medal in the 100-meter backstroke and a bronze in the 4x100 relay. He also made news for his outspoken commentary on Olympic Village residence conditions and food, complaining of air conditioning failures and bedding that made it difficult to sleep—he was spotted napping on a lawn in a Paris park.
Ceccon has 681,000 Instagram followers and brand deals with Italian food companies Foodspring and Parmacotto. This photo posted by Ceccon was the highest performing from his social channels during the event, according to Tagger by Sprout Social, with 575,200 likes, a 133.82% engagement rate and an estimated media value of $339,000. Ceccon’s social following has grown by 244.42% during the Games, Tagger data revealed.
Henrik Christiansen went to Paris to swim but became a food influencer. The Norwegian’s social posts about food in the Olympic Village made a gold medal winner out of the cafeteria’s chocolate muffins, which he showcased in a series of charming TikTok posts. The attention led to a run on the muffins and a bonanza for Christiansen’s social accounts—from 3,000 to 340,000 according to Christiansen’s estimation.
His TikTok account is “high-performing” according to Tagger by Sprout Social, with a 155.86% engagement rate and a $729,000 estimated media value. Sprout defines estimated media value as the value of a post based on its metrics or the size of a creator’s audience.
Armand “Mondo” Duplantis, an American who competes for his mother’s home country of Sweden, set Olympic and world records in the pole vault, clearing 20 feet, 6 inches—well over the height of an adult giraffe—then shared a kiss with his girlfriend, Swedish model and social media star Desiré Inglander.
Duplantis is no doubt flying high—he’s pictured soaring over Paris in Omega watch’s Olympics commercial and has done brand deals with Tommy Hilfiger and Max in Sweden. Duplantis has 941,000 followers on Instagram, growing 58.3% during the Olympics, according to Tagger by Sprout Social.
Despite the accomplishment of three medals in gymnastics at the 2024 Games, Suni Lee was not above a joke at her own expense. Broadcasting to 3 million social followers, Lee participated in the TikTok trend of users sharing their comical sports failures set to the Star Spangled Banner and captions like “Unfortunately I was not chosen for Paris.” Lee shared footage of her bruising fall on the balance beam in Paris with the caption “Unfortunately, I was selected for the Olympics.”
Lee—who previously won the all-around gold and uneven bars bronze medals along with team silver at the Tokyo Games—grew her social following by 33.75% during the 2024 Olympics, according to figures from Tagger by Sprout Social.
Overcoming kidney diseases in 2023, Lee today directs her massive social following to support the American Kidney Fund. She’s also got deals with Gatorade, Skims, Lilly, Clif Bar, Invisalign, Target, Kiss Nail Products, Batiste, GK Elite, Marriott Bonvoy and Amazon.
The world’s fastest man is also one of the most interesting in Paris. Noah Lyles’ overwhelming confidence plays out in his races but also in outspokenness, whether asserting he’d “feel sorry” for his opponents after underestimating them during the 100-meter dash preliminaries, or advocating that brand partner Adidas launch a signature sneaker for him.
Lyles commands a social presence of 235,000 on TikTok and 1.3 million on Instagram, where he’s shared brand content from Adidas, Xfinity and Visa. Lyles’ social following has grown by 120.17% during the Games, with this photo generating more than 500,000 likes and $486,5000 estimated media value, according to Tagger by Sprout Social.
Ilona Maher made viral videos on and off the pitch. A bruising rugby sevens player who led the U.S. to a bronze medal, Maher demonstrated she was a fearsome sports highlight creator while expressing a cheerfully gentle demeanor on social media where she provided fresh takes on the lives of athletes and body positivity.
Her social following grew by 527.61% during the Games, according to Tagger by Sprout Social. Maher first went viral with social content during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, gathering deals from brands like L’Oréal and Secret. In Paris, she appeared in new marketing for Google’s Gemini AI platform.
It was the summer of Summer. Summer McIntosh, a 17-year-old swimmer from Canada, was a breakout star in Paris, winning three gold medals and a silver in her first Olympics. She’s also made a splash with brands, making deals with Red Bull, Tag Heuer, Air Canada, Lululemon and Funkita swimwear.
McIntosh grew her social following by 79.8% during the Games, according to Tagger by Sprout Social. This post was her highest-performing, generating 226,800 likes, Tagger said.
The Clark Kent of the pommel horse won millions of hearts while helping the U.S gymnastics team to a bronze team medal, and winning his own bronze medal in the individual pommel horse competition days later. Through social media, Nedoroscik was revealed to be an ace Rubik’s Cube solver and a humble athlete whose reaction to all the attention thrust upon him was to express hope that it could grow the sport of gymnastics.
Nedoroscik would seem to be a natural for a Ray-Ban or Warby Parker endorsement but so far we’ve seen a company called Eyebobs announce it was renaming a pair of its frames The Stephen. Nedoroscik grew his social following by 805.68% during the Games, according to Tagger by Sprout Social.
Giorgia Villa was part of the Italian gymnastics team that challenged the mighty U.S. squad and wound up with a silver medal in the team competition. But what really freaked out the Internet were photos of the tiny gymnast posing with gigantic, delicious wheels of cheese. Turns out, pictures had resurfaced from a 2021 advertising campaign with famed Italian cheesemaker Parmigiano Reggiano, and reportedly long since expired—the deal, not the cheese.
Villa has 75,000 followers on TikTok and 127,000 on Instagram. She grew followers by 16.23% during the Olympics, and her posts had a 12.33% engagement rate, according to Tagger.
