She's Got Game Episode 7: What's the value of an Olympic medal?

There's more than medals at stake for New Zealand's top athletes competing at next month's Rio Olympics.

While their focus will be solely on the emotional reward that comes with performing at their absolute best on world sport's biggest stage, there's no doubt success in Rio can translate into commercial gain for an athlete.

In this week's episode of She's Got Game, we take a look at what commercial value a medal holds for athletes, and whether sportswomen are in position to capitalise.

Deborah Pead, founder of Pead PR, believes female athletes are an untapped resource for commercial partners and despairs that they're often overlooked.

However Pead says a global shift towards "Fem-vertising" could mean our top sportswomen are in a good spot to cash in.

"I think there's a lot of value in female athletes, especially when you think of how sporting ability it reflected in their fitness and positive body image and positive body projection, so health and nutrition is a key area, but I think they are often overlooked and undervalued as a resource."

Athlete manager Nick Cowan has New Zealand's highest profile Olympian on his books, Valerie Adams. He believes brands are looking for positive natural endorsements from athlete, but the commercial value of a medal depends on the athlete.

"Someone like Valerie brings so much to the table in terms of personality in the way she can engage with an audience, the way she can engage with kids, but also at the boardroom table, that increases her value as well. So winning a gold medal, there's no doubt if you structure yourself correctly you can do well with commercial partners."

Also this week, we catch up with champion swimmer Lauren Boyle during her brief pitstop home, and talk to her about what it's like going it alone on her road to Rio.

And finally athlete Lucy Oliver reflects on her close-run Olympic selection, after confirmation of her place in Rio came through only last week.

Missed an episode? Watch all the She's Got Game episodes here.