I suppose it is commercial reality but when a heavily sponsored athlete like Liu Xiang doesn’t perform well or is injured, it can be a blow to advertisers.

“His marketing value has been seriously diminished,” said Chris Renner, president for China of sports marketing agency Helios Partners.

Liu Xiang is China’s second richest athlete behind basketball star Yao Ming. His main sponsors are Coca Cola and Nike. The companies were hoping to use Liu Xiang’s success at the Olympics to push their products further in China.

“If anybody takes a hit from it, it’s certainly Nike, simply because they’re all about performance, whereas the others are about brand image,” he said. “Nike’s all about, you don’t win silver, you lose gold. With that attitude, it’s much tougher for them, because he was certainly the cornerstone for their program.”

Read more: Liu Xiang pullout a blow to advertisers