Golden girl Jessica Ennis is forecast to see her earnings double to at least £2m after her stunning performance at the London 2012 Olympics.
Ennis claimed a gold medal in the heptathlon in spectacular style last night as a packed Olympic stadium and millions of television viewers across the nation roared her on.
And while it is unlikely her mind has even turned to money, there are already forecasts that her triumph will deliver much more than just the gold in her medal.
Already dubbed the ‘poster girl’ of London 2012, Ennis has a list of big name sponsors which one expert said put her in line to earn £1m this year and her success could deliver her £2m next year, or even more.
With her star firmly in the ascendance, Ennis’ sponsors rushed to congratulate her and use her image, with one, Olay, running high-profile adverts this morning saying: 'Congratulations Jessica! You did beautifully.'
Other big name sponsors include Jaguar, British Airways and Aviva for the well-liked 26-year-old, who stills lives and trains in Sheffield and turns out for the athletics club she joined at 13.
Ennis lives with fiannce Andy Hill and chocolate labrador Myla. The couple own a £330,000 three-bedroom semi, with a sprawling garden, in an upmarket suburb of the Yorkshire city.
Simon Chadwick, professor of sport business strategy and marketing at Coventry University Business School, tipped her earnings to hit £2m next year.
He said: ‘It looks like her earnings last year were somewhere in the region of £600-700,000. This year it's looking like £1m already from her endorsement deals just in the run-up to the Olympics.’
Adidas is said to be Ennis’ most valuable sponsor, with its contract reported to be worth £320,000 annually. Becoming one of the sports giant's worldwide faces, in a similar way to how footballer David Beckham has, would send that figure soaring.
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Chadwick added that her success should already have boosted her earnings and they would rise higher if she was able to renegotiate existing sponsorships.
Superstar: Jessica Ennis is considered to have the potential to cross over from being just a star of athletics to a global face.He said: ‘For example if an athlete qualifies for the Olympic Games, they will receive a particular payment, and if they get into the final they will get another one, and then if they get a gold medal, they will get an even bigger pay-out. In simple terms, the better she does the more she's paid.’
One of the problems faced by the managers who look after Britain’s successful sportsmen - and women help them cash in on their success - will be the difficulty in squeezing more endorsements into already busy schedules, without detracting from athletes’ training and competition or existing sponsors’ exposure.
Once the curtain comes down on the London 2012 Olympics, athletes will also struggle to maintain the same high profile – something which is much easier for sports stars such as footballers, golfers and tennis players who are constantly involved in back page competition.
Mr Chadwick said that Jessica Ennis already had seven endorsements, ‘and to sign more could be a strain on her. Once you get up to eight, nine, 10, that's a lot of commercial endorsement deals to fulfil’.
Some of the biggest money-spinning opportunities for Great Britain’s Olympic heroes may lie in household advertising, or the holy grail of becoming a global sports giant’s ambassador.
Big supermarket deals, or being a face of a brand such as Adidas or Nike, promise substantial riches for any athlete who manages to crack that market, or even the name behind a computer games franchise, something which has made skateboarder Tony Hawk millions.
