The sponsorship standoff involving several top athletes is over but New Zealand Olympic Committee boss Barry Maister says the issue could arise again with other team members in coming weeks.
Maister announced yesterday that triathletes Hamish Carter and Bevan Docherty and cyclist Sarah Ulmer had all signed the athletes' agreement.
While Maister wouldn't elaborate, the compromise is understood to be agreement that individual sponsors of the athletes cannot increase their marketing during the NZOC's blackout period of two weeks before, two weeks during and two weeks after the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in March.
The issue was apparently resolved in a telephone hook-up between the NZOC and the athletes' representatives yesterday.
"This is what we expected and while the NZOC understands the situation that some athletes find themselves in, it is important that we, as an organisation, vigorously protect our sponsors against 'ambush marketing' and unauthorised use of athlete association with non-Commonwealth Games sponsors," Maister said.
But the 1976 Olympic hockey gold medallist was realistic that the issue was far from over with athletics, cycling and shooting teams all yet to be announced.
"It's not new and I'm sure before the Games are out it could well happen again," said Maister.
"This situation is 100 per cent resolved but we work on a case-by-case basis so a situation could arise tomorrow. We've had them before but we'll have them again. Normally out of the glare of the media we work through them pretty well.
"There's a few big teams to come and the contracts come in advance of that. So far everybody's signed up. I haven't checked through those to come but I'm not anticipating any problems."
Maister said the issue was an evolving one and would need to be discussed again after the Games.
"The NZOC reviews agreements after every Games and will, as always, involve the NZOC athletes commission in doing so."
Docherty, who won a silver medal behind Carter at the Athens Olympics in 2004, was relieved the issue had been resolved and he could focus on Melbourne.
Having described the situation as "tricky" at the weekend, he said both sides had compromised.
"The best thing we could do was compromise and that's what's happened," Docherty told Radio Sport.
Ulmer, Carter and Docherty were the only Games-bound athletes stalling from signing the agreement.
"Certainly Hamish, Sarah and myself are in very good positions at the moment in that we have a lot of very good sponsors supporting us," Docherty said.
"Being a fulltime athlete, you really have to make hay while the sun shines and we want to maximise our marketability.
"I totally understand the NZOC. They have to support their sponsors and not all the athletes going to the Commonwealth Games are in our position.
"It is the NZOC sponsors who support them to the Games. There are two very good cases to the one story."
With confirmation that Docherty and Carter had signed, Maister confirmed the Games triathlon team which also includes Kris Gemmell, Samantha Warriner, Andrea Hewitt and Debbie Tanner.
- NZPA
Athletes sign deal, but issue not over yet
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