After the 2008 Summer Olympics CNBC Sports Business reporter Darren Rovell listed the “25 Most Marketable Olympians” and we examined that list to see if they had official sites. Darren’s back with his new Winter Games list, and we rank them based on their online presence.

In our rankings we’re looking at several things:

• Official Site: Do they have one, does it include updated Olympic news, does it include links to any social media channels, does it include any sponsor info.
• Social Media Channels: Do they have any, and are they updated.
• Our conclusions are based on searching on the athlete’s name (in some cases adding official site, twitter, facebook, ect. to the search), noting all the information. For athletes that may have an official site and we list them as not having one – sorry it should show up under a direct search on the first page of google or your wikipedia profile page.
• Our rankings do not take into account the overall quality of the official site (ie content, design, etc.), but for what it’s worth they all could use help.
• Our rankings put priority on having an official site, because it still is the best channel to truly market an athlete.

So lets see who’s online communications strategy is most ready to handle their upcoming potential marketing increase:

Our ranking is listed first, followed by Darren’s:

1. – 3. Apolo Anton Ohno

• Official Site: http://www.apoloantonohno.com Olympic news is updated, includes Twitter feed, includes SM links includes sponsor info
• SM Channels: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube – all updated

2. – 25. Shani Davis

• Official Site – www.ShaniDavis.org – Olympic news is updated, includes a sponsors section
• SM Channels: Facebook, Twitter, Youtube – all updated

3. – 14. Joannie Rochette

• Official Site: http://www.joannierochette.com/ Olympic news is updated, includes links to Twitter and Facebook, includes sponsor info
• SM Channels: Twitter, Facebook – both updated

4. – 20. Maelle Ricker & Ashleigh McIvor

• Official Site: http://www.ashleighmcivor.com/ Olympic news is updated, includes SM link, includes a sponsors section.
• SM Channels: Twitter – updated, Facebook

*Nothing for Maelle Ricker – listed OS www.MaelleRicker.ca goes to agency site.

5.  – 1. Shaun White

• Official Site: http://www.shaunwhite.com/ Olympic news is not updated, includes SM links, includes sponsors info (hidden)
• SM Channels: Twitter, Facebook – both updated

6. – 4. Evan Lysacek

• Official Site: http://www.figureskatersonline.com/evanlysacek/ Olympic news is updated, no SM links, includes sponsor logos
• SM Channels: Twitter, Facebook – both updated

7. – 17. Julia Mancuso

• Official Site: http://www.juliamancuso.com/ (crashed few days ago – cannot have that during Olympics)
• SM Channels: Twitter, Facebook – both updated

8.  – 13. Maria Riesch

• Official Site: http://www.mariariesch.de/ Olympic news is updated, includes link to Facebook, includes sponsor info
• SM Channels: Facebook – updated

9. – 22. Charlie White & Meryl Davis

• Official Site: http://www.ice-dance.com/davis-white/ – Olympic news is updated (barely – one line), no link to SM Channels, no sponsors sections.
• SM Channels: Twitter (for each) – updated, no link to official site

10. – 6. Lindsey Vonn

• Official Site: www.LindseyVonn.com – pulled two wks ago
• SM Channels: Twitter, Facebook – both updated

11. – 16. Mirai Nagasu

• Official Site: http://www.figureskatersonline.com/mirainagasu/ Olympic news is updated, includes Twitter feed, no sponsor info
• SM Channels: Twitter, Facebook – both updated

12. – 15. Hannah Teter

• Official Site: http://www.go211.com/u/hannahteter/ Olympic news is not updated, no links to SM channels, includes sponsor info
• SM Channels: Twitter, Facebook – both updated

13. – 7. Alex Bilodeau

• Official Site: http://www.alexbilodeau.com/ Olympic news is updated, no SM links, no sponsor info
• SM Channels: Facebook – updated

14. – 2. Kim Yu-Na

• Official Site: http://www.yunakim.com/ doesn’t work
• SM Channels: Twitter, Facebook – both updated

15. – 19. Simon Ammann

• Official Site: http://www.simonammann.ch Olympic news is updated, includes sponsor logos
• SM Channels: Facebook – updated

16. – 12. Scott Moir & Tessa Virtue

• Official Site: http://virtuemoir.com/ Olympic news is not updated, no links to SM, no sponsor info
• SM Links: Facebook – updated

17. – 11. Torah Bright

• Official Site: http://www.torahbright.com/ Olympic news is not updated, no links to SM, includes sponsor info
• SM Channels: Facebook – not updated

18. – 18. Seth Wescott

• Official Site: http://www.sethwescott.com/ Olympic news is updated (barely), includes Facebook link, no sponsor info
• SM Channels: Facebook – not really updated

19. – 8. Bode Miller

• Official Site: www.skispace.com Olympic news is not updated, no SM links, no sponsor info
• SM Channels: Facebook – not updated

20. – 10. Mao Asada

• Official Site: http://www.maomaiasada.com/indexe.html Olympic news is not updated, no links to SM, no sponsors info
• SM Channels: Facebook – not updated

21. – 21. Cheryl Bernard & Kevin Martin

• Official Site: http://www.teambernard.com Olympic news is not updated, no link to SM Channels, includes a sponsors section.
• SM Channels: None

22. – 24. Johnny Spillane

• No Official Site
• SM Channels: Twitter -updated

23. – 5. Hongbo Zhao & Xue Shen

• Official Site: http://shzh.sports.cn/ no English version
• SM Channels: None

24. – 23. Amy Williams

• No Official Site
• SM Channels – None

25. – 9. Lee Jung-Su

• Official Site: None
• SM Channels: None

Conclusions:
Things are a little better than 2008 (especially considering the Games’ biggest star – Usain Bolt, waited almost a year after the Games were over to put up an official site), but again when you consider the only 24/7/365 marketing channel an athlete can have is online – you have to wonder what the hell is going with the agents who watch over these athletes. Once every four years the Olympics comes around – and you have to take advantage of this marketing opportunity.

What’s really shocking is the number of Americans on this list that really missed the opportunity, or didn’t take full advantage of it:
-Lindsey Vonn pulled her site just before the Games started (true it had major problems, but to pull it was an overstep)
-Julia Mancuso’s site crashed midway through.
-Shaun White’s site hasn’t been updated
-Bode doesn’t even really have a site that can showcase news, results, sponsors, etc.�
-Torah, Johnny and Seth not sure what is going on

Congrats to Apolo, Shani, Joannie, and Ashleigh.

To all Olympic athletes and agents email us @: info@uncommonthinking.com to start the talks on taking your online communications plan to a new level.