CATRIONA STUCK IN ROSS’ SHADOW

Few endorsements for such a bright star

Canadian Olympic hero Catriona LeMay Doan might want to hang a sign around her neck to go with her gold and bronze medals from Nagano. It would read:

Space for Rent.

That may be the only way for the country’s brightest star at the 1998 Winter Games to attract a major sponsor.

Just two weeks from the start of a new season, one of the world’s finest speed skaters has all kinds of marketing properties to sell - logos can be placed on one side of her racing hood, the chest of her racing suit and on her hat, turtleneck and team jacket - but no takers.

"I see that as a waste of good space," LeMay Doan said in a telephone interview yesterday from her Calgary home. "It’s not like I’m a one-shot, one-meet athlete."

LeMay Doan may have been Canada’s golden girl at the Nagano Olympics, but Ross (Acapulco Gold) Rebagliati is earning well over six figures for endorsements that include a multi-year deal with Roots. It’s hard to imagine that would have happened without the huge marijuana controversy surrounding his snowboard gold medal.

"It makes me kind of cringe that our society supports that situation (of Rebagliati) as hero," said LeMay Doan. "You see his face everywhere. Nothing against him. That situation never should have happened. But it’s a tough thing. I’ve always been very vocal on being anti-drug."

So many people around LeMay Doan - her friends, family, teammates, supporters, business contacts - keep telling her that they can’t believe she doesn’t have any significant endorsements.

LeMay Doan is clearly frustrated with the agency representing her, the Landmark Group, but is reluctant to publicly criticize them. Instead, she says that "people in the west are pretty angry with Landmark."

But what about her?

"I’m at the point in the year where I’m trying not to deal with the business side," said LeMay Doan, who returns to competition Dec. 12-13 at a World Cup in Nagano. "Yet there’s something nagging at my brain that tells me I should be frustrated. Everyone else thinks I should be. I think there’s a valid reason I should be frustrated."

LeMay Doan had an incredible 1997-98 campaign to make her a strong candidate to be named Canada’s athlete of the year in various upcoming polls, including voting for the prestigious Lou Marsh Award. In addition to the Olympic baubles, she became a world record holder, a world champion and won nine World Cup gold medals and two titles last season.

But while there have been some nibbles from Canadian companies, there have been no bites.

"The hardest thing is I see a commercial or print ad and say, ‘Hey, I could do that,’ " said LeMay Doan.

Elliott Kerr, who heads the Landmark Group, said he shares LeMay Doan’s concerns and is equally baffled as to their lack of success in marketing her thus far.

"I wish I could tell you why," said Kerr. "In reality, she has all the qualities. She’s wholesome, attractive, articulate, bilingual and has a stunning, winning smile. If I were to describe the perfect athlete and person to work with, it would be Catriona LeMay Doan."

Is it a case of LeMay Doan being too wholesome in an age where posing nude in Playboy has netted former Olympic figure skating champ Katarina Witt all kinds of publicity and attention?

Bob Stellick, vice-president of Shandwick Communications, said athletes need a compelling or interesting story to break into a finite marketplace that’s already crowded. He said Rebagliati had that. He said figure skater Elvis Stokjo’s battle to recover from his groin injury captivated the public, as did rower Silken Laumann’s ability to overcome her leg injury before the 1992 Summer Olympics.

Stellick also said big companies have a tendency to go with tried and true athletes such as Stojko or Wayne Gretzky.

"You may not hit a home run, but you’re not going to strike out," said Stellick.

LeMay Doan may also be hurt by the fact there’s no industry behind her sport and that it receives scant television coverage.

Figures are always bandied about when an athlete wins an Olympic gold medal, but there is no way to substantiate them. It was estimated that American wunderkind Tara Lipinski’s gold medal in women’s figure skating would be worth $20 million (U.S.) to her.

LeMay Doan has small contracts with the trucking firm AMJ Campbell, believed to be worth around $20,000, and Oakley sunglasses. She also is listed with the Ford Modelling Agency, but that hasn’t yielded any work yet. She receives about $12,000 in funding yearly from Sport Canada and the Canadian Olympic Association.

Kerr said he is "very, very close" to a couple of deals and that he’s "very optimistic that before the season starts we’ll have more than one significant deal."

The general thinking in marketing circles is that if you don’t get something done in the first few weeks after Olympic success you might as well forget it, but Kerr doesn’t believe that applies to LeMay Doan.