One of the indelible images of American triumph at the Paris Olympics came courtesy of Torri Huske’s spontaneity and Simon Bruty’s camera lens. Huske, the 100-meter butterfly gold medalist, was handed a United States flag after the medal ceremony. She turned and gave one corner of the flag to silver medalist and teammate Gretchen Walsh, and together they did a star-spangled skip-a-long on the pool deck with Old Glory fluttering behind them. Brutycaptured the moment for Sports Illustrated.
The photo does more than portray American athletic exceptionalism. It presents an opportunity for the NCAA, the Atlantic Coast Conference and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee to capitalize on the robust audiences that tuned into the NBC platforms for 17 days. Huske and Walsh are current college athletes and, specifically, current ACC athletes—at Stanford and Virginia, respectively—who should be marketed to the public like football or basketball stars.
