IOC sponsorship to hit $1 billion

The International Olympic Committee is set to make over $1 billion in sponsorship in the run-up to the 2012 Games.

It is to set a new record for cash gained for selling the rights to be associated with the London games.

The figure - equivalent to £510 million at current values - reflects the unprecedented interest in London 2012.

Organisers of the Games in Stratford will hope some of the success rubs off on them.

The IOC's current sponsors include some of the world's largest and bestknown multinational firms, such as McDonald's, Panasonic, Coca-Cola, Visa and Samsung.

In total, 12 sponsors paid a total of $866 million (£440 million) to be associated with the Beijing Olympics this summer.

But bidding for the right to sponsor the London Games - as well as the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver - has put the IOC on course to smash the $1 billion barrier.

Gerhard Heiberg, chairman of the IOC marketing commission, said: "We hope sponsorship in the [four years] we are talking about will reach around $1 billion."

He said the International Olympic Committee had secured nine worldwide sponsors for the 2009-2012 period and was talking to Johnson & Johnson, the US consumer products group, about becoming the 10th.

Advertising as such is largely banned from the Olympics, but the five-ring logo is seen as one of the most valuable images companies can associates themselves with.