Jake Paul’s fiancée Jutta Leerdam’s viral Olympic celebration could earn her $1,000,000
Dutch speed skater Jutta Leerdam bagged the women's 1,000m gold medal and set an Olympic record in the process
Jutta Leerdam could have just pocketed a whopping $1 million after showing off her Nike sports bra at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.
The Dutch speed skater, 27, won a gold medal on 10 February in the 1,000m women's speed skating, and not only that, she did it in a new Olympic record time.
For those who didn't know, Leerdam is the fiancée of Youtuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul, who was emotional in the crowd as he witnessed her incredible victory.
The Olympian, who was already a two-time world champion, impressively shaved almost three-tenths of a second off the record to win gold in 1:12.31.
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And she wasn't done, as on 15 February, Leeram actually returned to the Olympic podium, claiming silver in the women’s 500m.
But now, it's her attire that's making headlines as it's been reported that the sportswoman could be due a payout of around $1 million thanks to an unexpected moment during her gold-winning celebration.
After winning, Leerdam unzipped her orange top, revealing a sports bra underneath, with Nike branding clearly on display.
The company has already jumped on the opportunity and shared a post on Instagram with the caption: "When you're this fast, you don't ask for permission. Jutta Leerdam breaks the Olympic record in the Speed Skating 1000M and wins her first Gold."
The pictures of Leerdam's win and her Nike bra were also plastered across online news websites and in print publications around the world.
It's slightly awkward since the Netherlands Winter Olympic official merchandise sponsor is FILA, not Nike.
In the wake of the unexpected marketing moment, advertising expert Frederique de Laat, who is the founder of Branthlete and specialises in female athlete advertising, spoke with Dutch newspaper 'AD' about how much money the athlete may be looking at for her accidental branding flash.
The expert said, "With Nike, I suspect you're looking at a figure of over a million." So yeah, a crazy amount of money, especially by the standards of what Olympic athletes usually earn.
In case you didn't already know, the Olympics do not pay athletes for winning medals. However, many governments and national Olympic bodies do offer cash bonuses, and athletes also make the most of endorsement deals.
USA Today Sports recently asked the Olympic committees of 30 countries how much each is paying its medalists this month, to gain more of an insight.
The publication reports that athletes from the Netherlands, like Leerdam, earn $35,674 (£26,300.66) for a gold medal, $17,838 (£13,151.07) for silver, and $8,920 (£6,574.58) for bronze.
Meanwhile, the country with the highest prize pool is reportedly Singapore, who fork out $788,907 (£581,601.96) for gold, $394,497 (£290,833.05) for silver, and $197,292 (£145,448.59) for bronze.
Speaking of her amazing win, Leerdam told Olympics.com: “I want them [kids watching] to never get discouraged by people saying you can’t do it.
"On this distance, a lot of people in the media always told me I should quit because I didn’t make the podium as many times. They always said I should stop focusing on this distance, and now I have Olympic silver, so they should never listen to that."
Madison Burgess