Usain Bolt Wears Hublot At Olympic Medal Ceremony

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Usain Bolt Wears Hublot At Olympic Medal Ceremony
by Kyle Stults on August 08, 2012

Finally, the first live Olympic photos of super sprinter Usain Bolt wearing his Hublot King Power “Usain Bolt” edition watch! Leave it to me, your resident watch nut, to get caught up in the excitement of such a thing, but hey, this is what I live for here at Perpetuelle.

Now, unlike Yohan Blake and his ultra-light, race-ready Richard Mille watch, Bolt’s Hublot is a big, heavy watch that would definitely slow him down on the track. But that doesn’t mean Bolt can’t sport it on the winner’s podium — and that is exactly what he did, accepting his gold medal for the 100m dash with a Hublot (named after him) on his wrist.

Once again Perpetuelle is bringing you the first look.

With all the attention Yohan Blake’s new Richard Mille watch has been getting (and believe me, it’s been getting a LOT of attention), I can imagine that Team Hublot might be getting a bit of wrist — and PR — envy. But when your guy finishes first — decisively — well, that kinda makes you feel like you picked the right Ambassador, doesn’t it? It really is awesome watching Usain Bolt run, and Hublot is no doubt pleased to be represented by him.

One note on the pics: the gold-colored strap on Bolt’s watch is made from his shoes worn during the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. You can my original reporting on Usain Bolt’s watch, with more looks, here.

Usain Bolt of Jamaica is presented with the gold medal

after winning the 100m dash at the 2012 London Olympics

Side thoughts: While Hublot usually finds itself as the most popular watch in the room, so to speak, there is no doubt that Richard Mille knows a thing or two about playing this game! Mille’s genius was in designing ultra-light, performance ready watches (with tourbillons!) that his Ambassadors wear during actual performance (Rafael Nadal, Bubba Watson, Pablo Mac Donough). This ups the publicity value by a HUGE factor!

My guess: Hublot is working on their own sport-ready, ultra-light watch(es) as we speak

goju1

So, Rule 40 doesn’t apply here?
Because the watch belongs to Mr Bolt?
[No comparison anyway - Hublot is a 'brassy tart' whereas Mille is an elegant Baroness]
- http://www.perpetuelle.com/ Perpetuelle
  
  @goju1:disqus Right! It’s all a bunch of hogwash — selective application of the “law”! How about all the Casio, Nike, Timex, etc. that I have seen on wrists?
  - goju1
    
    Since you mention ‘Nike’ that makes me think that there is a whole lot more product placement going on besides the odd watch brand. Does Rule 40 dictate what brands the teams can choose for their athletic apparel? We see Adidas, Nike, Puma… on all of the athletes.
    There’s obviously somewhat more to this than meets the eye. I had assumed that an athlete has freedom to bring their own personal belongings to the olympics and that it is normal for people to wear watches and personal jewellery and purses, wallets, handbags, suitcases….
    The relevant distinction (to me) seems to be whether a person wears their personal property as opposed to something they might have been loaned to promote a product (i.e. are they basically a ‘billboard’ or ‘sandwich board’?)
    - http://www.perpetuelle.com/ Perpetuelle
      
      @goju1:disqus
      @goju1:disqus Here is the Olympic Code I have cited and linked to (section 40 and by-laws to 40): ”Except as permitted by the IOC Executive Board, no competitor, coach, trainer or official who participates in the Olympic Games may allow his person, name, picture or sports performances to be used for advertising purposes during the Olympic Games.”
      I think the key phrase here is “except as permitted by the IOC Executive Board”. This clearly leaves room for discretion. I think there is some element of “pay to play” here, and as well you have co’s like Omega who have paid how much (tens of millions?) for sponsorship rights and this puts them in a strong position to assert these rights and influence the IOC.
      - goju1
        
        OK, thanks for posting Rule 40. I’m no lawyer (my wife is though) but the rule ‘seems’ pretty straightforward – competitors must not advertise. So, the next question is “What constitutes advertising?”. Really needs a bunch of lawyers at $900/hour each (or more) to figure this out but if I consider the Richard Mille incident then MY interpretation is that the watch was on loan expressly for the purpose of ‘brandishing’ it. In the case of Mr Bolt, I have inferred that he actually owns the watch that he wears; noting that part of it comes from a pair of his running shoes (I hope they got a good wash otherwise could be a bad case of Athlete’s Watch going on).
        It’s a bit subtle because the intent is also (obviously) to draw attention to his watch by the public.
        Anybody would have a hard time convincing me that either of these athletes did not understand that they have been promoting a watch brand.
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