Slideshow: Blinded warrior has visions of gold

Streeter Lecka / Getty Images

Ashton Eaton, left, and Trey Hardee of the United States, wearing (or not wearing) their distinctive yellow Nike Volt shoes, celebrate their gold and silver medals in the men's decathlon Thursday.

As the Olympics wind down, marketing experts are awarding a gold medal in ambush marketing to Nike, which scored with bold commercials, smart PR moves and its distinctive, ubiquitous neon-yellow Volt shoes.

Nike, which always manages a high Olympic profile despite its non-sponsor status, outwitted big-money Olympic backers such as Visa, McDonald’s and adidas - which reportedly paid $155 million for its official London 2012 sponsorship - with its nervy campaign, according to marketing experts.

“The shoes were one of the first things I noticed during the Games,” said Leslie Smolan, co-founder of Carbone Smolan Agency, a design and branding firm in New York. She just returned from London. “I thought Nike's approach was absolutely brilliant. Nike managed to integrate themselves into the games -- the best way to show your product, not just talk about it.”

Indeed, London Games organizers considered legal action against Nike before dumping the idea, according to The Associated Press. The IOC, ever patrolling to block non-Olympic advertisers from crashing the lavish marketing party of official Games sponsors, banned athletes from tweeting about their personal sponsors. But the logo police couldn't thwart Nike-bedecked competitors from donning those incandescent kicks: Olympians can wear whatever shoes they feel offer them a crack at the podium. 

“Nike cleverly leveraged the combination of their recognizable trade dress and logo to get Olympic-sized brand identification without an Olympic-sized budget,” said Adam Hanft, CEO of New York-based Hanft Projects, a communications and marketing consultancy. "It's exactly the kind of guerrilla product insertion that makes marketers smile and the (International Olympic Committee) nuts."

Needless to say, Nike was unapologetic about its shoe campaign.

"Over 400 athletes are wearing the Volt Nike footwear at the Games," said Nike spokesman Brian Strong. "The majority of those are in track and field but also in boxing and fencing."

As of Friday 41 athletes had medaled wearing Volt shoes, including 43 percent of track and field medalists, Nike said.

And the company didn't need its signature swoosh to strut its brand to the world. The Volt is scientifically designed to be a pupil-popping consumer magnet.  

"Of all the colors of the rainbow, the human eye and visual system is most sensitive to the yellow/green zone," Strong said. "The power of this visual signal is capitalized on when the background is highly contrasting, which the London Olympic track is -- reddish.  The human eye has relatively low sensitivity to red vs. much higher sensitivity to Volt color."

Cool hues aside, does Nike agree with the many advertising experts who believe the shoe was strategically picked by Nike to rev its "ambush marketing?" 

Strong's direct response that question: "We’ll always look to provide our athletes with the best in design and innovation on the world’s biggest stages. Volt is a strong, dynamic color and it has certainly become a visible signature of ours during the summer of competition."

Nike's promotion of the shoes skirts on the edge of Rule 40 of the Olympic charter, which "limits athletes competing in the Olympic Games from appearing in advertising during and shortly before the Olympic Games." The rule is intended to "prevent ambush marketing which might otherwise utilise athletes to create an association with the Games."

But Rule 40 does not affect what athletes can wear, said Jennifer Escalas, associate professor in the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University. 

"It just says that if the equipment manufacturer is not an official sponsor, then the athletes cannot 'promote' the product outside of using the product during competition," she said. "The track and field athletes wearing the bright yellow Nike shoes cannot tweet about them or blog about them or post pictures of the shoes on Instagram."

Early in the games, Nike scored a public relations coup after Egyptian athletes were discovered parading in counterfeit Nike warm-up outfits because they couldn't afford authentic gear. Rather than complain about the piracy, Nike offered free gear for the team.

Nike also flirted with Rule 40 in its "Find Your Greatness" TV ad featuring rugby players, marathoners, cyclists, swimmers and wrestlers competing in London, Ohio; London, Norway; and East London, South Africa. There are no overt Olympic mentions and no images of London, England. 

"The television commercial skirts very close to impinging on the connections in the minds of consumers between the official London sponsors and the positive thoughts and feelings consumers have about the Olympics,"  Escalas said. "I could see the official sponsors being justifiably upset about these ads."

To which Nike's Strong responds: "The Nike 'Find Your Greatness' spots feature everyday athletes from multiple locations called London around the world, to illustrate that greatness can be found by anyone, anywhere. We think that is a powerful message at a time when the world is focused on London, UK." 

And he sticks the landing. 

"I love it," said Alex Campbell, co-founder Vibes, a Chicago mobile marketing and technology company, "because they weren't actually an Olympic sponsor -- but but they came off as one." 

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Ariel Hsing, 16, who counts Warren Buffett and Bill Gates among her pals, competes on August 3 in London.

After nearly defeating one of the world’s best table tennis players in a drawn-out Olympic match, American Ariel Hsing may soon be known as more than the teenager with billionaire pals.

Hsing, 16, lost to the eventual gold medal winner on July 29 but only after pushing China’s Li Xiaoxia to the limit in six tight games. Hsing said the experience opened her eyes to her potential.

“Before, I did not realize that I could compete with the world’s best,” the San Jose, Calif., teen told TODAY’s Jenna Bush Hager. “But now I’ve gained a little bit more confidence so my sights are set on 2016.”

Hsing got a surprise visit in London when one of her biggest fans, “Uncle Bill” Gates, slipped into the arena to watch her match. The Microsoft chairman called her performance “northing short of phenomenal.”

Hsing also is known for being friends with “Uncle Warren” Buffet, whom she first met as a 9-year-old prodigy at the billionaire investor’s 75^th birthday party. Buffet has since invited her to several of his company’s shareholders meetings, which is how she met Gates.

At such a meeting earlier this year, “we played a few points and they whipped out their really large paddle — it was like a pizza flipper,” she said.

Like most Americans, Hsing started playing table tennis in the garage as a young girl. She said her parents have supported her endeavors — provided she keeps up her grades. That hasn’t been a problem for the straight-A student.

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Nursing a broken heart from a disappointing fourth-place finish in Tuesday’s 100-meter hurdles, an emotional Lolo Jones fired back at her critics on Wednesday.

Jones opened up about a Saturday New York Times piece that compared her to Anna Kournikova, the former tennis pro known more for her good looks than her accomplishments on the court. 

“I think it was crazy just because it was two days before I competed, and then the fact that it was from a U.S. media,’’ Jones told Savannah Guthrie before fighting back tears. “They should be supporting our U.S. Olympic athletes and instead they just ripped me to shreds. I just thought that that was crazy because I worked six days a week, every day, for four years for a 12-second race and the fact that they just tore me apart, which is heartbreaking.

“They didn’t even do their research, calling me the Anna Kournikova of track. I have the American record. I am the American record holder indoors, I have two world indoor titles. Just because I don’t boast about these things, I don’t think I should be ripped apart by media. I laid it out there, fought hard for my country and it’s just a shame that I have to deal with so much backlash when I’m already so brokenhearted as it is.”

On Tuesday night, Jones tweeted that she had a “broken heart’' after missing an Olympic medal finish by one-tenth of a second. Her disappointment followed her performance in the 2008 Olympics, when she was leading the race and clipped the ninth of 10 hurdles to finish seventh. She took no solace that the Tuesday night race was the fastest one in Olympic history, with Australia’s Sally Pearson running an Olympic-record 12.35 seconds to edge American Dawn Harper by two-hundredths of a second to win.

“Definitely, I was crushed afterwards,’’ Jones said. “I know I had the best race of my season. Not the best race of my life, but I had the best race of my year, so I just try to look at that. It doesn’t take away from the pain that I was close to once again having a medal and not getting it.”

Jones tried to find the silver lining in reaching the Olympic finals after several setbacks in the past year.

“I think it’s disappointing in one extreme as in I didn’t get the medal, but in another extreme, a year ago I was having spinal cord surgery,’’ she said. “I mean if I look at that, spinal cord surgery, two hamstring injuries and you fought through all of that, so I take time to focus on that and not the negativity I’ve received.”

Jones has drawn criticism for her openness with the media about everything from her personal life to struggles with injuries. However, she hopes that her story will inspire others to overcome adversity.

“Putting your heart out there, obviously it opens you up to a lot of negativity, but at the same time if I could just reach somebody out there,’’ she said. “Maybe there’s a little girl who thinks she can be an Olympic athlete and she sees all the things I struggled through to get here. Yeah, I didn’t walk away with a medal or run away with a medal, but I think there’s lessons to be learned when you win and lessons to be learned when you lose.’’

Al Roker / Twitter

Al admits that TODAY staffer Sarah Dunham and Olympian Shawn Johnson wear the salmon pants better.

This is why you should ALWAYS call Al Roker before you go out.

Al, fellow TODAY staffer Sarah Dunham and Olympian Shawn Johnson all showed up this morning wearing pants that were verrrrrrry similar.

Apparently Nantucket Red is popular over in London, so the matching outfits happened because they're all "on trend" and not because of any kind of "Mean Girls" prank situation. Al went as far as to call it "The Sisterhood of the Salmon Pants."

Shawn, a TODAY.com special correspondent for the Olympics, had nothing but nice things to say of Al and his fancy slacks. “Considering he’s so stylish every day it’s an honor to feel like I was finally fashion forward,” she said graciously. She told TODAY.com that she bought hers at British trouser shop Harvey Nichols after noticing the bright fad around town. “Everyone is wearing patterned, printed and colored. I just liked the color.”

Sarah wanted to point out that she was not, repeat, NOT copying Al's style. “Not for nothing," she said, "but I came to work first. I think I may be rubbing off on him.”

Al knows when he's beaten, tweeting, "Ok, so Sarah and Shawn wear these pants better." Gentlemanly! But would you expect anything less from a guy in salmon pants?

Julieanne Smolinski is a TODAY.com contributor. Her favorite Edgar Allen Poe short story is "The Salmon Pants."

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George Schnabel

The good old days: A younger, more in-shape me takes to the strip in a high school fencing bout.

Olympic fencing matches ended Sunday, meaning I'm starting to come off my Olympic high. Sure, watching people like Michael Phelps or Gabby Douglas go for gold is exciting — but to me, it's nothing compared to the sights and sounds of two blades clashing.

I became interested in fencing the same way a lot of kids probably do: loving the sword fights in movies like "The Princess Bride" and "The Adventures of Robin Hood." I tried other sports like field hockey and softball, but nothing captured my heart like fencing.

Sadly, fencing is only discussed every four years, when the Summer Olympics come around, and is not viewed very highly by Americans. As Mike Wise put it in an article in The Washington Post last week, "no one but fencers cares about fencing after the Olympics are over" and "niche athletes need to savor the Games and smile more often for those two weeks ... because they really matter to most of us only every four years."

Wise is not alone in this rather dismissive view of the sport. Frankly, I think fencing takes more effort to understand than other sports. Also, because of all the required gear, it's not as visually sexy as beach volleyball or swimming, so often people don't take the effort to watch it.

But as a former "niche athlete" who fenced for eight years, I'm always excited to see the sport finally return to TV. I enjoy watching it with my fencer friends to talk about old times, and with my non-fencer friends and co-workers to explain what’s going on. Those who take the time to try it often find it really engaging.

Toshifumi Kitamura / AFP - Getty Images

U.S. fencer Mariel Zagunis, seen on the left, faced Ukraine's Olga Kharlan during the women's sabre bronze medal bout at the Olympics on Wednesday. Zagunis lost and placed fourth.

This year I felt more people than usual were talking about fencing, thanks to American sabre fencer Mariel Zagunis, a two-time Olympic gold medalist who was going for her third straight win in the individual competition and was also named the flag bearer for Team USA, an honor many Olympians dream of. Zagunis didn't medal, but the U.S. Olympic Fencing team didn't go home empty-handed; the U.S. women's epee team took home bronze on Saturday.

But you didn't get to see much of epee on TV; instead, sabre seemed to be the most featured television fencing event. In fact, it always seems to get the most attention of the three weapons (the other two being epee and foil). It is an obvious choice for TV because it’s faster and looks a lot more like the swashbuckling sword fighting people see in the movies.

By now you may be asking: What's the deal with all these weapons? Basically, foil, epee and sabre differ in shape, size, which part of the weapon you can hit your opponent with to get points, and the target areas on the body that you can hit. (To learn more, visit the United States Fencing Association website.)

George Schnabel

In high school my coach almost switched me to sabre because I was fast and aggressive. Instead I stayed in foil and used those traits to my advantage.

As a dedicated foil fencer, I'll admit I'm biased towards the weapon and was sad not to see more of it on TV this year. Still, even watching the other weapons was enough to make me nostalgic. I miss not only the physical challenge of fencing, but the battle of wits against opponents. Combined, these two aspects made fencing much more challenging than any other sport I've tried.

But it's the people I met along the way that made the sport truly amazing: from the high school coach who taught me to face my fears, believe in myself, and never settle for anything less than 110 percent to the teammates who had my back and who I fought for in return. Not to mention the godlike Olympians I'll never forget meeting at various competitions: I glimpsed Zagunis at a college meet and once went head to head in a meet with Olympic foil fencer and Harvard alumna Emily Cross (I managed to get three points on her before she crushed me). Olympic fencers always left the rest of us in awe: These were the people representing us to the world and giving us a voice in America when no one else seemed to care.

I think 2012 has been a good year for "niche" sports, as Wise would label them. For example, NBC reported that archery was receiving bigger viewing numbers then usual; more people across the country seem to be interested in it thanks to movies like "The Hunger Games."

Jamie Kraut

En garde! Here I am saluting my opponent before starting a college fencing meet as part of Tufts University's varsity team. There's nothing like the anticipation before a bout, saluting, putting on your mask and raising your foil!

But unlike archery, fencing is still ignored by most. Yet no one can convince me it's any less important a sport than those in the spotlight during the Olympics. While some people might like me to be a good little fencer and shut up for the next four years, I'm not going to. I'm thinking of dusting off my foil and getting back into competitive fencing. I'll also keep talking about it and encouraging people to give it a chance.

Yes, I'm biased, but to me it's the best sport. And if you think otherwise, try picking up a sword and see how it feels. After that, you won't be able to say anything's cooler.

TODAY.com producer Lisa Granshaw's fencing nickname in high school and college was Lil' Killa. Just as you shouldn't ignore niche sports, you also shouldn't underestimate short people!

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Missy Franklin insisted Monday that she plans to maintain her amateur status so she can swim with a college team, although she acknowledged her multiple Olympic medals and new-found fame could have her swimming in million-dollar endorsements.

“It is still the plan right now, but I know there’s definitely going to be a talk in the future with my family and my coach just trying to figure out what is best for me,” she told TODAY’s Savannah Guthrie.

Franklin, 17, has stressed her desire to compete on a college team once she graduates from her Colorado high school next year because she thrives in a group environment.

“I do want to swim in college so badly,” she said. “I love being part of a team, and in college, that team is such a big part of who you are and what you do and I really want to get a chance to be a part of that.”  

Although an exact tally is difficult to estimate, Franklin could probably earn a million dollars in the next two years promoting food products, apparel, cosmetics and other items typically geared to American teenagers like herself, said Jim Andrews, senior vice president of IEG LLC, a Chicago-based sponsorship consulting and research firm.

Olympians are in different situations than professional football and baseball players, golfers and other athletes whose feats can be viewed weekly on television, Andrews pointed out. Spotlights usually shine on Olympians once every four years. Very few have year-round notoriety like Michael Phelps.

“Even in the off years, when we see Phelps doing Subway commercials and other things, we know who he is because he’s such a superstar. He’s transcended the games,” he said. 

Darin David, account director at The Marketing Arm, called Franklin’s decision highly unusual. Most star Olympians are seizing chances to capitalize on their fame.

“Being Olympians, you only have a narrow window to gain, and kind of recoup, some of the expenses you put in all those years of training,” he said. “To pass up on your high water mark has got to be a tough thing to do. It’s highly unusual.”

However, Andrews also pointed out that swimmers, unlike other athletes, tend to have longer competitive careers. At 17, Franklin could easily be expected to compete at another Olympics, should she stay healthy and free of injuries.

“Obviously, there are no guarantees. Will she win another four gold medal four years from now? It’s not a definite. There’s a risk she’s taking, but at least the possibility exists.”

Franklin won the nation over with her personality as easily as she won four gold medals and a bronze in her London Olympic competitions. Her youthful energy and down-to-Earth demeanor charmed fans, as did her insistence on experiencing life as an average teenager. For example, she enthusiastically told Guthrie one of the things she looks forward to the most in school next year is attending the football games with her friends.

But by forgoing promotional contracts and professional prize money to retain her amateur status, Franklin gives up deals similar to the ones that already have showered fellow American Olympic star Gabby Douglas. The gold-medal gymnast will be featured on a special edition of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes boxes. She also has cinched a contract with Proctor & Gamble, whose products include beauty brands such as CoverGirl, Olay, Pantene and Secret.

Although the Olympics have garnered her national attention quickly, Franklin said she feels very little has changed in her life.

“Maybe a few more people know who I am but really, that’s all that’s changed,” she said. “I still have the best family and friends and teammates in the world and just going to go home and be a normal high schooler.”

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Dominic Ebenbichler / Reuters

Venus and Serena Williams of the U.S. hold their gold medals during the presentation ceremony for the women's doubles tennis.

Today and tonight, during final-event leaps, heaves and sprints in the hurdles, pole vault, and gym, athletes will be competing for, living and dying for ... silver. 

Not second place, mind you. But, technically, as the winners' national anthems ring out this evening, each grinning champion will be wearing, nuzzling or even kissing carefully dressed-up medallions made almost completely out of sterling silver. 

Those cherished, sacrifice-four-years-of-your-life-to-achieve, historic golds? Oh, there's gold on there -- as a thin plating meant to cloak the 92.5 percent of the first-place prize that's comprised of silver. 

London 2012 organizers have proudly, purposely produced the heaviest gold meals in Olympic history -- each tipping the scales at 400 grams, or twice the heft of the golds handed out during the 2008 Beijing Games. But they are hardly the most valuable Olympic medals ever.

Due to that flashy gold coating, totaling 6 grams -- worth $302 in today's market -- and the remaining 394 grams of sterling silver -- valued at $318 -- the winning coins would fetch about $620 if melted down as pure metals, according to Lear Capital, a precious metals company in Los Angeles.

It's true: the London golds aren't worth their weight in gold. 

"The London (organizers), they made this coin larger than any other Olympics ever have. But you can make a gold coin fairly large if you’re just going to plate whatever’s underneath it with gold," said Kevin DeMeritt, founder of Lear Capital. "So it’s a beautiful coin .... But most of the coin is silver which really doesn’t add up to a whole lot when silver is $26 an ounce and gold is $1,600 an ounce."

Lear has crunched the metal/medal math, comparing the London golds with the top prizes doled out at Barcelona in 1992 (which would be worth $484 today), at Stockholm in 1912, the last Games during which gold medals were all-gold ($1,207 today) and at Paris in 1900 ($2,667 today). 

Now, don't feel a bit bad for athletes like Michael Phelps, who owns 18 career golds, or for the collective 2012 American team which together has scooped up 28 top medals as of Monday morning.

For starters, most of those hard-fought keepsakes will continue to gain value as sports collectables, should any ever choose to sell them. U.S. Olympic hockey player Mark Wells, a member of the famous 1980 squad, earned $310,700 for his gold medal when it was auctioned two years ago. 

Along with their neck-worn medals, American Olympians also earn honorariums from the U.S. Olympic Committee to reward their achievements: $25,000 for gold, $15,000 for silver and $10,000 for bronze. And there's now a bill, introduced by Sen. Marco Rubio R-Fla., to waive the taxes that Olympic athletes must pay on those gratuities. 

All the compensation and potential tax-cuts aside, each London gold medal still remains worth about a third as much as an autographed pair of LeBron James' kicks, $1,729.

And in future games, those top medals may become even less precious, DeMeritt predicted. 

Take, for example, the Russians, hosts of the 2014 Winter Olympics.

"Who knows?" DeMeritt said. "Maybe they'll just use copper (worth $3.35 a pound) and then plate it with gold." 

If vintage of any kind is your thing, London's Portobello market is your hunting ground. There's anything from antique sporting goods to porcelain and silver, from painting to exquisite vintage clothes.

I am a producer for the TODAY show in London and I've always loved the abundance of vintage clothes that London has to offer, but going to Portobello can be bewildering unless you know where to start looking. In this video I'll take you to a magic little corner of the market where you can find some real treasures -- without getting crushed in the process!

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Where else but London can you enjoy a refreshing pint of beer overlooking a hangman's noose? I'm Jack Rees, a producer for the London bureau of NBC News, and I live in Wapping, a riverside area that once was awash with skullduggery, teeming with cutthroat sailors, rakes and swashbucklers.

Because I love Britain's naval past, I'm eager to share my neighborhood with you; even to many citizens of this great city, it remains a hidden treasure. So in this video, I head to London's river Thames with maritime history expert Peter van der Merwe to track down where Captain Kidd was hung, tarred, and left to rot. Arrr!

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My name is Rupert Barker and I am a London-based producer for the TODAY show. As such, I often have the chance to explore parts of the city most people don't get a chance to see.

There is a huge amount of history on the surface here, but there are also amazing stories to be found below ground too. In fact, there is a whole subterranean world right beneath our feet: the London under London.

In this video, I explore one such place: a vast honeycomb of tunnels under the busy streets of central London - the Crypt of St. Pancras Church, near Euston Station. It's a hidden corner that's well worth finding!

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