Chapter 409 - 200: The "Gold Content" of an Olympic Champion, Net Worth Turned Upside Down Overnight

First, he had to give exclusive champion interviews in Paris to major domestic media outlets, especially reporters from CCTV.

Second, after he won the Olympic gold medal, the Red Bull Group, his World Tour Team’s largest shareholder, and the team’s sponsor, Lightning, notified him at the first opportunity. They wanted him to return to the team and, as soon as possible, visit their respective R&D departments. His task was to participate in designing the signature for the Olympic champion’s exclusive Golden Chariot paint scheme and a matching golden helmet livery.

This was a golden livery exclusive to the Olympic champion.

Among all World Tour Cyclists, he would be the only one to have such special treatment for the next four years.

The Red Bull Bora Team’s road bikes were Lightning’s SL8 model, and their helmets had long been products made by the Red Bull Group.

However, other cyclists in the World Tour were not allowed to use Huang Chong’s Olympic livery, but ordinary fans could.

Therefore, as a Chinese cyclist, he came with a massive consumer market. How could Red Bull and Lightning possibly miss such an opportunity to rake in money and promote their products?

This was the exclusive bike and helmet of an Olympic champion, after all!

For anyone who rides, who wouldn’t want one?

Of course, besides these two brands, which were already deeply tied to the team and required Huang Chong’s participation in commercial engagements, many top domestic business giants also approached him immediately. These included tech companies, travel websites, cycling gear brands, shampoo companies, new energy vehicle manufacturers, various food companies, commercial banks, and so on, all wanting him for endorsements.

However, he truly couldn’t find the time to return to China to select and accept these commercial endorsements. Everything had to be temporarily shelved and postponed.

And besides him being swamped, his parents also became busy in an instant.

First, the city leadership personally came to the small Xianyun County to visit and congratulate the old couple.

They praised them for raising a good son who brought glory to the nation!

Second, all sorts of reporters also came to their home to interview them and dig up stories about Huang Chong’s personal growth.

Finally, countless internet celebrities swarmed to Xianyun County to start riding on Huang Chong’s coattails.

In short, with Huang Chong’s Olympic victory, the Huang Family had truly brought great honor to their ancestors.

Most importantly, as an Olympic champion, Huang Chong would not only be awarded the title of "International-level Athletic Champion" by the General Administration but also receive a prize of at least one million in bonus money from the provincial bureau.

There were even real estate companies wanting to gift Huang Chong a house.

From this, one could see just how much "gold content" an Olympic champion had in the country.

Of course, his commercial value was also inseparable from his own excellent personal image.

Because he was quite handsome and refined, and on top of that, the "system dad" had given him a body modified to perfection, with a phenomenal physique.

This would also give him more advantages in commercial endorsements compared to other athletes who weren’t as good-looking.

Natural-born handsome men and beautiful women are just a matter of human genetics, but from Huang Chong’s current position, possessing a handsome face truly gave him a natural, innate advantage.

But all of this was beside the point; he currently had no time to return to China for business matters.

Because in the short term, he couldn’t even finish handling all his commercial obligations in Europe.

Not to mention, even though the Olympics were over, this year’s World Tour season wasn’t finished yet.

In the second half of the season, there were still many very important races to be held. For example, there was the Vuelta a España, one of the three Grand Tours, set to begin on the 17th of this month; the Zurich Road World Championships in Switzerland at the end of September; the only autumn Monument classic, the Tour of Lombardy, held in Italy in October; and the Tour of Guangxi, a race he had participated in last year and would certainly attend again, practically as a fan-service event for his domestic supporters.

As for the Red Bull Bora Team, after learning that the Visma Team’s Core Commander, Vingegaard, had decided to compete in the Tour of Poland and would skip this year’s Vuelta a España—and that Pogačar would also be skipping the Vuelta to focus all his efforts on preparing for the World Championships—their idea of having Huang Chong participate in this year’s Vuelta a España to vie for the first Grand Tour overall victory of his career became increasingly realistic and urgent.

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