Clijsters serving for her sponsors
By Simon Hooper, CNN World Sport
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Clijsters put a personal sponsorship deal ahead of Olympic ambition.
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LONDON, England -- When Baron Pierre de Coubertin founded the Olympic movement in the final years of the 19th century, he optimistically imagined the Games as a celebration of amateurism, played in a "spirit of friendship" that would "ennoble and strengthen sports."
It is hard to imagine the French aristocrat would have sympathized with the dilemma of Belgian tennis star Kim Clijsters, who has announced she would rather miss next summer's Athens Games than risk upsetting her kit sponsor.
"As long as my clothing remains an issue, it is impossible for me to go to the Olympics," argues Fila-dressed Clijsters. The Belgian Olympic team wears Adidas. (Full Story)
Yet Clijsters' decision is wholly in keeping with the modern nature of the sports industry, in which major stars command six-or seven-figure sums to wear one t-shirt instead of another.
And when the bank balance is the bottom line, corporate loyalty counts for more than national ties or some out-dated sporting creed.
Contractual contradictions
On the other hand, Clijsters -- ranked No. 2 in the world -- is also possibly using her contractual contradictions as an excuse to skip a tournament she probably doesn't want and certainly doesn't need.
After all, soccer has managed to combine team and player sponsorship for years.
Both the rugby and cricket world cups were preceded by player revolts which thwarted organizers' efforts to ban personal endorsement contracts that conflicted with official sponsorship deals -- with both tournaments going ahead with a full quota of stars.
And Clijsters reportedly rejected a compromise deal that would have allowed her to play in her usual Fila kit but switch to an Adidas team uniform for a possible medal ceremony.
The real issue is likely that Olympic tennis holds no attraction for Clijsters, whose main ambitions for 2004 must focus on winning a Grand Slam -- having twice finished as a runner-up this year.
On both those occasions, she was beaten by compatriot Justine Henin-Hardenne. It must be difficult to muster patriotic pride when you're not even the best player in the country.
And while the grandees of the International Olympic Committee may like to think of the Olympic gold medal as a "fifth Grand Slam", for players and tennis fans there are only four events that matter.
By skipping the Olympic tennis event, which runs from August 15-22, Clijsters can focus solely on preparations for the U.S. Open, which starts in New York on August 23.
A bigger surprise than Clijsters' non-involvement would be if more stars of the court -- men and women -- didn't follow her example and give Greece a miss next summer.
Advance of professionalism
So has the advance of professionalism killed de Coubertin's Olympian idealism?
In reality, the Games have been fighting to retain their relevance in an increasingly competitive sports market for decades.
As Avery Brundage, IOC president from 1952 to 1972, recognized as long ago as 1954: "As soon as you take money for playing sport, it isn't sport, it's work."
On the athletics track and in a huge range of minority sports from weightlifting to curling, an Olympic medal remains the height of ambition.
But the most successful Olympic sports of the past century -- soccer, tennis, baseball, basketball and ice hockey -- now market their own dreams, with success measured in dollars rather than gold.
In the 21st century it is the soccer World Cup that better captures the global imagination, or the Super Bowl or World Series in the soccer wastelands of the U.S.
Clijsters has been slammed in the Belgian media and by Jacques Rogge, a fellow Belgian who also happens to be president of the International Olympic Committee.
But her absence from Athens will be quickly forgotten if 2004 is the year she finally joins the ranks of Grand Slam champions.
Don Riddell is away. World Sport airs on CNN International at 0930 GMT, 1230 GMT, 1430 GMT, and 2130 GMT daily (also 0030 GMT at weekends and daily in Asia.)
