Most of Canada's bronze medal winning soccer women returned home to Canada today and were met by a crush of fans and media in both Toronto and Vancouver. Players had a chance to thank fans, friends and families for their support in the last tumultuous two weeks, and most players stayed for 2 hours to sign autographs & answer questions. 

 

 

Some players like Rhian, elected to stay in the UK for another week to see relatives. However, the majority were anxious to return home.

 

 

 

Now, the marathon "blues" set in and the challenge for the CSA will be to market this team, contract them and keep the country's attention engaged on them as we build to the 2015 World Cup.

 

The opportunity should be there for sponsorship and exposure. "I think the women will do particularly well," predicts Owen Lee, executive
creative director of an advertising agency Inferno. "It's been a very
female-focused Games. A few weeks ago these women might have walked around unnoticed." He believes brands are attracted to women athletes because the values they stand for are more valuable than the current crop of celebrities, many of whom are famous for being famous.

 

 

 Olympians are people who have been driven since childhood and have quietly gone about their work to absolutely deliver when it mattered," he said. They have visited teams at the grassroots of the game as well as having performed on the international stage at the highest level.  "Compare that to the actions of the average professional athlete, or a celebrity, and it's something very powerful. Brands will want to associate themselves with the values these women athletes stand for." 

Certainly the television exposure seems to have been there during the Games. An estimated 3.8 million Canadians watched the Canada vs USA Semifinal game on TV, while the London 2012 Olympic Games Closing Ceremony was seen by an average of 7.5 million Canadians. The event becomes the most-watched Summer Olympics broadcast on record in Canada. The 4 p.m. ET broadcast was watched on average by 5.1 million viewers on CTV alone.
 

In total, the 2012 Games reached  nearly 17 million Canadians. An incredible 31.9 million Canadians, or 95% of the population, watched
coverage on Consortium channels from the start of London 2012, with viewing up a remarkable 88% over Beijing 2008."Our broadcast of the London 2012 Olympic Games has proved to be record-setting," said Adam Ashton, President, Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium. "Audiences like these set new benchmarks for Summer Olympic Games broadcasts in our country. Thank you to the athletes for allowing us to share their stories with the nation. We have them to thank for our success."

For the athletes themselves, they were overwhelmed with the tens of thousands of tweets, face book messages, texts, e-mails and letters of support. As Rhian wrote in her journal, " a very large thank you to all the hundreds (thousands) of people who wrote to me, either on my website, through facebook, e-mail, the press or twitter. Their messages of support  and love in the darkest hours of the tournament were really appreciated by all of us. I read every message!"

 

Some supporters like Ashley Greenough, had their own dark days. She heard Rhian speak at a local event and worked hard to be selected for the Lac St Louis regional soccer team. Unfortunately, she broke her wrist before the event and had to watch. But, she sent her support.
 
Others were creative in their support e.g. Celia Morin, who plays house league soccer and watched Rhian and the team play. It really inspired her. Celia says, " I remember when you came to my elementary school, Dorset, a couple years ago or so and that was great.  Maybe if you get the chance you can visit there again and inspire other kids like me:)" My friend and I made some cup cakes to celebrate your victory. On each cupcake I put the initials and number of one of the soccer players on the team. Unfortunately my friend took half of the cupcakes home before we could decorate them all, so I wasn't able to complete the team.

 

Let's hope that the plans are in place to market and support this bronze medal team through to 2015.