Visa, the Worldwide Payment Technology Partner of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, announced the four Australian athletes joining Team Visa for Paris 2024.
Surfing champion Molly Picklum, up-and-coming swimmer Flynn Southam, world record holder middle distance Paralympian Jaryd Clifford, and footballer Ellie Carpenter will be part of the largest group of Olympic and Paralympic athletes and hopefuls in the Team Visa program’s history and the most diverse. Globally Team Visa includes athletes representing more than 60 markets and 40 sports including new addition Breaking.
Recently Team Visa athletes from around the world, including Australia’s Molly Picklum, attended the Team Visa Summit in Paris for a two-day, creator-led content master class focused on brand immersion and best practices for how to tell their own stories within the broader creator economy.
“Today, athletes have the power to turn fans and followers into a community by sharing their sporting and personal stories, and generate commerce through content creation,” said Natalie Lockwood, head of marketing, Visa Australia & New Zealand. “Through Team Visa, we’re helping our athletes develop these skills as creators and realise the immense opportunities to reach, engage and inspire people all over the world.”
Team Visa Summit: A Master Class in Creator Storytelling
Visa transformed a future site of Paris 2024 into a creator playground by tapping into cultural touchpoints across art, technology, music, sport, fashion and food. Guided by cultural influencers and best-in-class social media creators, athletes learned to express themselves through these passion points while also learning hands-on social platform tips for elevating their personal brand and storytelling prowess.
Cultural influencers and creators were on hand as athletes participated in content challenges and collaborative sessions that included learning a new sport, creating an exclusive music track, trying their hand at street art, and capturing trending social media content around Paris.
Team Visa also met with youth from Sport Dans La Ville, a leading association for professional integration through sport in France, to accentuate Etienne Bardelli’s inspiring mural in Stade Elisabeth to celebrate the community and incentivise youth sports participation.
“I’m so excited to become part of such a diverse Team Visa community and to have Visa backing me on the road to Paris 2024,” said Picklum. “Already through the Team Visa Summit I’ve had the opportunity to meet other Team Visa athletes, and learn best practices for sharing my story, building my brand, and connecting with fans in Australia and around the world”.
Team Visa for Paris 2024 By the Numbers:
Since 2000, the Team Visa athlete program has championed more than 600 Olympic and Paralympic athletes selected based on their athletic achievements, community involvement, and alignment with Visa’s core values of equality, access, and inclusion.
Paris 2024 Team Visa highlights:
- 117 Olympic and Paralympic athletes from 60+ markets, including eight new markets (Austria, Armenia, Belgium, Cyprus, Malta, Slovakia, Uzbekistan, Honduras)
- Ages 15-48 with highest percentage of women athletes in program history
- 40 sports, including new Paris 2024 sport: Breaking
- 175 medals collectively, with 15 athletes competing in their first Olympic or Paralympic Games
- More than 45 million combined social followers across Team Visa athletes
Globally Team Visa Paris 2024 also includes Caroline Marks (Surfing, US), Ryan Neiswender (Wheelchair basketball, US), decorated athletes like Iga Swiatek (Tennis, Poland), Sky Brown (Skateboarding, Great Britain), Teresa Perales (Para swimming, Spain), Kanoa Igarashi (Surfing, Japan), and first-time Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls, Qingyi Liu (Breaking, China), Rasheed Broadbell (Athletics – Sprint/Hurdles, Jamaica), Ardan Galymuly (Goalball, Kazakhstan) and Jonathan White (Para canoe, Great Britain).
