Winter Olympics: Freestyle of the Rich and Famous

Become an Olympic champion and make a million. That is how it is supposed to work but the Australian freestyle skier Dale Begg-Smith hopes to turn the theory on its head. At 21 he is already a millionaire and today he hopes to add the gold medal to the equation.

Begg-Smith is estimated to be worth £10m on the back of AdsCPM Network, and CPM Media, companies specializing in the internet that he founded as a 13-year-old with his brother Jason, who is also a skier.

He has always been vague about what the business actually does. "There is not much to say, we design technology and stuff like that, some advertising stuff too," he said. But investigations in Australia have discovered that the firm buys pop-up advertising rights to highly viewed internet websites, a source of great frustration to most people and which can be used secretly to track a user’s web-surfing habits.

The companies make money by skimming a small percentage off each time an ad scores a hit or is directed to a client’s site. It employs 30 people and Begg-Smith drives a black Lamborghini. He originally set the firm up in his birth place in Vancouver before he stopped competing for Canada two years later because of complaints from skiing officials who feared he was missing too much training to concentrate on the business.

The move has clearly not affected him. While the company has developed spectacularly, his career on the slopes has also taken off. He has won three of the four World Cup events this season and will start as favorite for the gold today.

"Dale is very focused on whatever job he’s doing - and he has certain jobs to do," said Steve Desovich, the American who is Australia’s head coach. "But the biggest job now is skiing. He has the flexibility to deal with business when it interferes but there has been no problem."

Begg-Smith concentrates on business during the off season and sometimes sacrifices training sessions for corporate meetings. "All these guys are in the gym. I don’t do any of that," he said. The business is still located in Vancouver but Begg-Smith is quick to point out that it would be wrong to claim his move to compete for Australia was one of convenience because by making it he and his brother were forced to miss three years of international competition.

He does not claim the funding he is entitled to, preferring to bankroll himself. "He doesn’t talk about his business but he can support himself," said Michael Kennedy, the chief executive of Ski & Snowboard Australia. "He is not interested in promoting his image or his business. There are not many athletes like that."

Freestyle specialists, as well as being judged on their speed down a course of up to 250 meters, are assessed on how well they negotiate a course studded with tricky bumps known as moguls. There are also two spectacular jumps which must be completed along the way. In such a testing sport there will always be an element of surprise but Begg-Smith is fairly confident.

"Based on results I’m sure that doesn’t seem unfeasible," he said when asked about his chances of winning a medal. Predictably the media are just as interested in his business interests. "I make a decent living, not millions and millions of dollars like some people like to say," he said. He flew here economy.

Just as interesting is one of Begg-Smith’s rivals, the American Jeremy Bloom, the 2004 and 2005 World Cup champion. The 23-year-old will return home after the race for the NFL combine, a camp where American footballers are assessed by clubs ahead of the draft in April and where successful candidates pick up multi-million dollar contracts.

Bloom, a former University of Colorado receiver and kick returner, was forced to give up college football - banned for accepting an endorsement from a skiing company. He supplements what money he makes on the ski circuit by working part-time as a male model. "I look forward to putting my heart and passion into football," Bloom said. "I think anything is possible. But for me there’s really no bigger honor than to represent our county in the Olympics and walk in the opening ceremony. A lot of that gets lost in our celebrity-crazed culture."

Which is easier to say when there is already a million in the bank.