Visa, the global payment technology sponsor of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, has announced four Australian athletes joining Team Visa for Paris 2024.

The athletes include surfing champion Molly Picklum, 18-year-old swimmer, Flynn Southam, middle distance Paralympian, Jaryd Clifford, and footballer, Ellie Carpenter. These athletes will join the largest and most diverse group of Olympic and Paralympic athletes and hopefuls in the Team Visa program’s history.

Visa said it’s supporting its athletes to build their personal brand and participate in the broader creator economy. For example, Picklum recently attended the Team Visa Summit in Paris, a two-day, creator-led content master class focused on brand immersion and best practices for content creation.

The athletes already boast illustrious resumes. Clifford, for example, has broken the World Record for his class in two separate events, and should be the favourite to win his first Gold medal at Paris 2024 at 24 years old. Carpenter, 23, was one of the stars of the Australian team at the recent FIFA Women’s World Cup. Southam debuted at the Commonwealth Games, he;ping bring on two gold medals, broke the 15- and 16-year-old Australian age records that were previously held by Australian Olympic greats Ian Thorpe and Kyle Chalmers, and won four gold medals at the 2022 Junior Pan Pac Championships in the 50, 100, 200 and 4 x 200m freestyle events.

The Team Visa program has championed more than 600 Olympic and Paralympic athletes since 2000, selected based on their athletic achievements, community involvement, and alignment with Visa’s core values of equality, access, and inclusion. Paris 2024 Team Visa includes 117 Olympic and Paralympic athletes from 60+ markets, including eight new markets, and 40 sports. The athletes range in age from 15-48, with the highest percentage of women athletes in the program’s history.

“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 Visa Australia & New Zealand Head of Marketing, Natalie Lockwood. “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.”

Picklum was excited to become part of such a diverse Team Visa community and to have Visa backing me on the road to Paris 2024.

“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,” she said.

Carpenter, shared her perspective on the commitment required to excel in sports, “You have to make a lot of sacrifices if you want to be at the top.”

In 2024, there are 117 Olympic and Paralympic athletes from 60 markets being supposed by Team Visa, including the highest percentage of women athletes in the program’s history. Combined, these individuals cover 40 sports. Team Visa athletes have collectively won 175 medals, with 15 athletes competing in their first Olympic or Paralympic Games. They have more than 45 million combined social followers, demonstrating the power of their personal brands and the potential reach of their stories.

Visa’s recent masterclass saw its Paris site transformed into a creator playground, 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. They also 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.