Participants use an application that resides on their desktops to make the athlete run, lift weights, rest, and eat. Chat rooms are set up on the sponsors' Web sites, so users can share training tips. Participants are invited to bring friends and family to observe the events in the virtual stadium, and the athletes gain a slight advantage when supporters are in the audience. The idea is to create the online version of sports sponsorship. And it can tell how people are interacting with the athletes.
Sponsors handle the distribution on their Web sites.
The company says it's willing to work with advertisers on performance metrics. You're probably wondering what happens when the Olympics are over. According to Rothman, these might be auto races or league sports. Rothman hopes to actually become officially sanctioned by some of the sports organizations, and says the company has been discussing the possibilities. The success of these efforts, of course, will likely depend on how effective the initial Olympic promotion turns out to be, and whether sponsors are happy enough to come back next time.