Adlington and Hoy enjoy lion’s share of post-Olympic gold

Swimmer Rebecca Adlington may have come only third in the 400m freestyle in Rome last night - she was beaten to gold in the World Championships by the Italian Federica Pellegrini (centre) and to silver by her compatriot Jo Jackson (left) - but she still takes top spot along with cyclist Chris Hoy in the league of British athletes who made the most of their success in the Beijing Olympics.

According to a survey by the Observer of the athletes who came home from last year's Games with a record haul of 47 medals, very few of them are enjoying the fame or wealth promised at the time by Steve Martin, head of sponsorship for Saatchi & Saatchi.

Martin said immediately after Beijing that all the British Olympians had a golden opportunity to become millionaires. "People don't understand how much these guys could actually make," he said.

The reality has been very different. It appears the British public have the capacity to remember only one or two Olympic celebrities, says the Observer - and they have chosen Adlington and Hoy. The rest are left to fight over the few remaining sponsorship deals and speaking engagements.

Canoeist Tim Brabants, who won gold in the 1000 metres sprint in Beijing, has had to go back to working shifts as a doctor at a Nottingham A&E department and says that because Adlington is also from Nottingham, he only gets invited to things she turns down.

Rower Zac Purchase, asked if his earnings had been improved by his gold medal in the lightweight double sculls at Beijing, replied: "I got a pair of gold, limited-edition wellies  - does that count?"

Even the the glamorous track cyclist Victoria Pendleton has been frustrated by her inability to find fame and fortune, despite stripping down to her knickers for a shoot for FHM magazine - for which, it transpires, she was not paid.

"I've pretty much done everything I can and still I'm an unknown," she says. "You come away with two gold medals and you think your life is made. But I'm not sure anything is different at all."

Asked how she was finding the motivation to gear up for the London Olympics in 2012, she said: "I am still working on that. If it wasn't in London I don't know if I would bother." ·