So 2012 beckons, and with the dense fog of economic gloom showing no signs of lifting, the prospects of a happy and prosperous New Year for most citizens of Great Britain are bleak. Though not for all.  Those who stand on the rostrum with winners' medals draped around their necks during the London Olympics will not only be enveloped by great happiness, but assured of considerable prosperity too.

For, more than ever before, these Games will enrich victorious Brits beyond the wildest imagination of Baron Pierre de Coubertin.

Not from actual prize money of course, That's still a no-no. But when they step up to that rostrum they will be standing on a gold mine, their medals soon to be converted into cash by way of sponsorship deals endorsements, TV commercials and panel shows, speaking engagements, and newspaper columns.

Home stars Sir Chris Hoy, Victoria Pendleton, Jessica Ennis, Rebecca Adlington, Ben Ainslie, Mark Cavendish, Mo Farah, Tom Daley, Phillips Idowu, Keri-Anne Payne and Dai Greene are leading contenders for the gold standard.  And to borrow a phrase from Del Boy, this time next year they could all be millionaires - if they aren't already.

London 2012 will provide the richest pickings in Olympic history for not only for those who win – one British sponsorship agency estimates they could pick up at least £2 million ($3 million/€2.4 million) a piece  over the next four years  but also for many who simply take part and do reasonably well.

Even some practitioners in more humble sports like hockey, taekwondo and handball have managers, PR minders and agents seeking ways to bolster lottery funding or existing sponsorship deals. While there is a huge range of incomes for Olympic gold medalists, even those in these lower profile events can earn sizeable sums with the right application and personality – most notably in the field of motivational speaking.

It is estimated that some of those at the top average commercial deals paying £100,000 ($154,000/€119,000) plus with speaking engagements up to £10,000 ($15,500/€12,000) a time. With gold medal successes next year, all could expect to land at least four more major endorsements worth up to £150,000 ($232,000/€179,000) annually or more than £2 million ($3 million/€2.4 million) in the four year cycle to the Rio Games in 2016.

Hoy (pictured), for instance is believed already to have earned at least that sum after his three golds in Beijing which made him the biggest name in cycling. Before 2008 he is understood to have been earning in the region of just £24,000 ($37,000/€29,000)a year from lottery grants and small sponsorships. Beijing brought him lucrative deals from Kellogs, Harrods, Highland Spring, Adidas and ScottishPower Renewables.


A repeat, or anything approaching it in London would, again in the immortal words of Del Boy mean that "the world is his lobster".

But here's a prediction, there is one young man, as yet relatively unknown who, with a little luck – or maybe just a lucky punch - can be the biggest hit of 2012 and subsequently the highest earner. The aforementioned sums will be chicken feed to what 22 year-old Anthony Joshua will be worth should he become the Olympic super-heavyweight boxing champion.

For that truly remains the richest prize in Olympic sport. Ask Audley Harrison. He made a million back in 2000 when he turned pro, and that was without landing a blow. The seven figure windfall, from licence payers' money by courtesy of the BBC was paid up front, together with another million from a sponsor. It turned out to be money for old rope-a-dope, and as we know, it has all ended in jeers.

Amir Khan also collected a cool couple of million in a three year deal with Frank Warren – and that was only after winning silver at lightweight in Athens 2004. Four years on, James DeGale got an instant investment of around  £1.5 million ($2.3 million/€1.8 million) from the same promoter following his acquisition of the Olympic middleweight title in Beijing.


In boxing, it is always the big boys who make the big money and at the moment, in the Olympic ring, they don't come any bigger than 6ft 6in Joshua (pictured), the London-born son of Nigerian parents who has the looks, the likeability and the punch, together with the newly acquired world amateur silver medal from Baku where he lost on a hotly disputed decision to the local Azerbaijani.

Had that bout been in London – and the repeat may well be the Olympic final at ExCel - there is not much doubt that Joshua would have got the decision.

He had defeated reigning Olympic champion Roberto Cammarelle on the way to the final in the Azerbaijani capital and says: "I'm made for the Olympic final. I'm not overwhelmed by the prospect,  This is what I am supposed to do. I will deal with it all right. I've not won one it yet but I am eading in the right direction."

Joshua's confidence is shared by Rob McCracken, Team GB Boxing Team chief who says: "We always knew we had something special on our hands with Anthony, but his rate of progress this year, for someone who is still relatively inexperienced, has been absolutely fantastic. He has every chance of being a star in his home town Olympics."

When he won the ABA title in only his 18th bout two years ago he spurned an offer of £50,000 ($77,000/€60,000) to turn pro there and then. I understand there was another incentive of some ten times that after his world silver but he knows that winning gold in 2012 will make him worth a king's ransom. Or should we say a Don King's ransom?

Promoters here and in the United States are fighting among themselves to get him to sign a pre-Games contract but Josh is determoned to resist the dosh.

He argues thus: "When you lose as a professional you are a former heavyweight champion, but once an Olympian you are always an Olympian. You can't take that away. When you get gold there is nowhere else to go.

"I can't buy the experience I'm getting now. As soon as I turn pro I have no other options. I'm getting the most out of my amateur career. I'm going to an Olympics and then if I was going to turn pro I've done everything I could as an amateur. I don't want to rush anything."

Now that David Haye apparently has become the retiring sort - though should the Klitschkos eventually make him an offer he'd be wiser to refuse you can bet he will swiftly unretire - there is a charisma chasm at the top of boxing's heavyweight division. Joshua can fill that far more handsomely than 'Fraudley' ever did.

In his 29 bouts Britain's amateur boxer of the year has shown commodities that make a potentially great heavyweight: he has more heart and a better chin than Harrison or Haye, has an appealing, Ali-like smile, punches a bit like Bruno - but is less robotic and more nimble on his feet, as testified by his 11sec for the 100 metres as a 15-year-old schoolboy

Like so many in his sport big Josh has been a little bit of a bad lad in the past, with a spell of community service for a drugs-related offence, but has sorted himself out. "I was running with the wrong people," he admits. "I won't mess up no more."

Of course the boxing ring is strewn with shattered aspirations of wannabes, and that Olympic title is by no means a foregone conclusion, even less the heavyweight championship of the world which understandably is his dream.

But of all the potential 2012 achievers hoping to milk London's Olympic cash cow Anthony Joshua  seems the one most likely to become worth his weight in gold.

Alan Hubbard is an award-winning sports columnist for The Independent on Sunday, and a former sports editor of The Observer. He has covered a total of 16 Summer and Winter Olympics, 10 Commonwealth Games, several football World Cups and world title from Atlanta to Zaire.