Herbalife powers Israeli Olympians for upcoming 2020 Tokyo Olympics
Not just a financial sponsor, global nutrition giant provides supplemental products and scientific health experts to blue-and-white athletes.
By URIEL STURMHerbalife Nutrition(photo credit: HERBALIFE)For Olympic athletes, and even national Olympic federations, sponsorship partners are of course an essential aspect of ensuring that they can operate smoothly and dedicate the time, efforts and financial resources needed to train for their sports at the highest level.
Sponsors come in all forms, and as the expression goes “beggars can’t be choosers.” Yet, doesn’t it make much more sense for an Olympic athlete to have a nutrition industry leader in his or her corner rather than a beer company or a car manufacturer?
Well, in comes Herbalife, a global provider of nutrition products and supplement, which has been a sponsor of the Olympic Committee of Israel and its athletes for more than five years and has really stepped up its game ahead of the Tokyo Games.
As a recent discussion with Country Director of Herbalife Israel Ron Porat illuminated, it is a win-win partnership for both sides.Country Director of Herbalife Israel Ron Porat. (Herbalife)
“The relationship between Herbalife and the Israel Olympic Committee began in 2015 when we took on sponsorship of the gymnastics team,” noted Porat. “Later on in 2016, just after the Rio Olympic Games, we extended our sponsorship to the whole Olympics team.
There is such a clear symbiosis between the two organizations that it seems to be a match made in heaven.
“For us, this is a core sponsorship as Herbalife globally puts a large emphasis on sport and on sports nutrition in particular. Our nutritional experts always say that for a “regular” person, a person who is not a professional athlete, to have a healthy and active lifestyle, it is 80% nutrition and 20% exercise and activity. Obviously, when you are an Olympic athlete, the importance of nutrition climbs even higher. I don’t know how to state an exact percentage, but nutrition is part of building the body and preserving it to get the best performance possible.”
Herbalife’s full range of quality sports nutrition products is backed by science and used by hundreds of its sponsored athletes around the world. Many of its sponsored teams, as is the case in Israel, also benefit from Herbalife’s nutrition scientists who spend time with athletes educating them on the important role good nutrition plays in sports performance.
“This is regardless of the event. It can be a stamina event, a power event or anything else, nutrition plays a great role in the performance of an athlete and Herbalife globally has emphasized and focused on this area, starting in the early 2000s by bringing a lot of sports nutrition experts onto the board and presenting also what we called Herbalife 24, which is a dedicated supplement for professional athletes.”
And it isn’t just about writing a check or mailing nutritional products to athletes.
“Regarding the local sponsorship of Olympic athletes – and I believe there are seven total countries around the world in which Herbalife has partnered with the respective Olympic committees – we are helping the athletes throughout the period before the Olympics,” said Porat. “We are a sponsor that is involved during the entire cycle of preparation for the Games, not just the year before, to have the best nutrition possible. A lot of experts are also advising the athletes regarding personal goals, because each sport requires different nutritional programs from each other. So for us it is very important and throughout the years we have created great collaboration with the local Olympic committee, led by Gili Lustig.Country Director of Herbalife Israel Ron Porat. (Herbalife)
“The sponsorship is built on a two-pronged approach. On the one hand, there is the financial sponsorship to the committee itself, and on the other hand there is the partnership through our products and our experts. So all the athletes on the Olympic team can get our products through the nutritional support in the institute. And it isn’t just the products, but the personalization for each athlete according to his or her needs because obviously there is a difference to the regiment between a judoka and a gymnast.”
Asked about the potential benefit of Herbalife products and where they can be viewed as a dietary alternative to regular food, Porat was quick to dismiss that notion.
“We don’t replace food. We actually endorse healthy food and a healthy diet, even if it is not through using Herbalife products. For example, vegetables, fruits and other healthy foods. We are not a complete diet solution – you cannot live just on Herbalife. But the advantage of Herbalife, especially the products for professional athletes, is that through a Herbalife shake or tea or any other of our supplements, you can find everything that you need in the right quantities to absorb and to digest.
“So for example, if it is pre-practice or post-practice, we have different products that give you exactly what you need either before or after the specific training involved. This helps build the energy prior to practice, maintaining it through the practice and recovering in a healthy way afterwards. It’s easier, quicker and very delicious, at least in my opinion.”
Once given a taste of Herbalife, the athletes themselves have been quick to jump on board.
“The feedback we get from the athletes is very positive and they manage to understand through our experts and through our nutritional partners within the Olympic committee and beyond the importance of a healthy nutritional diet and how that helps not just to fuel the body and give it energy but also to prevent for all kinds of potential injuries and to overcome tremendous efforts in the immediate period after a practice, which is extremely crucial to professional athletes, who could be practicing up to a few times a day at time. It isn’t just fuel for the body, but also about preserving it and building it back.”
Porat was born in Ramat Gan and holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from the College of Management He joined Herbalife seven years ago, after a successful career in sales. He started at Diplomat as a field agent, and later as VP of sales for Procter & Gamble in Israel, and for a short time at SodaStream, where he managed the network of external distributors in various parts of the world.
“When I was approached by Herbalife, I realized that this was an unprecedented managerial challenge. A company with great potential, working on a lesser-known model, and which is important to make accessible to as many consumers as possible, and especially to present the excellent solutions available to almost everyone.”
Porat’s personal experience is not in professional sports and he is quick to point out that Herbalife’s products are great for any type of participant in exercise or activity.
“I don’t have a professional background in sports. Unfortunately, I am not so talented. I participated in all kinds of sports when I was a teenager, but I didn’t excel in any of them, and I didn’t even have the dream of being an Olympic athlete, I looked more at it from a fan’s perspective from the outside. But in my personal life, I am a big fan of hiking and usually a few times a year I hike big mountains and peaks, up to 4,000 meter, which obviously take a lot of physical effort, but I cannot say that I am a professional athlete. The highest peak I have climbed was the Alpamayo in Peru, in my early 20s, and that was about 6,000 meters. But now that I am 46 I am not passing the 4,000 meter mark.
“In terms of the recreational athlete, who is not professional, the effect of the Herbalife products is the same, but the ambience is different. Our nutritional products, whether or not you are training heavily in sports or not, can help anyone. Of course, there are people who train a few hours daily or people who are active for 40 minutes weekly. But either way, the principal is the same. First of all, healthy nutrition is the basis for healthy living, in general, not just coming from a Herbalife product.”
The key ingredient is energy, something we can all use more of
“When you are exposing your body to physical efforts, regardless of how long it is for or how high you are taking your heart rate to, you need to have energy before, you need to maintain your energy and you need to recover afterwards.
So while the principles and the science of our product are the same across the board, the use of them is usually less frequent for the recreational athletes as opposed to the professional ones.”
Over the past decade or so, the emphasis of a healthy lifestyle has taken hold throughout the world, and even more so in Israel.
“When it comes to the Israeli lifestyle – from both an exercise and nutrition standpoint – I feel that even when I started working at Herbalife about seven years ago the mentality of Israelis toward an active and healthy lifestyle was higher than in most other countries. Herbalife is active in 95 markets globally, so we have a good basis for comparison to other countries in the world. Through my tenure with the company, the awareness and implementation of such a lifestyle in Israel has even increased. Because Israel has a lot of good advantages compared to other countries. First of all, the basic menu and nutritional principles here in Israel are in any case much healthier than in other countries due to the Mediterranean diet that our food system is based on, with a lot of vegetables and olive oil.
“Therefore, our obesity rate, while not great, is better than in other countries. The second advantage is the Israeli weather, which allows us to participate in outdoor activities and sports virtually all year round as opposed to other countries which in the winter are limited to how much can be done outdoors for many months of the year. Also, in the last year, awareness of sports became much more of a community through various competitions, such as ninja and the like, and Israelis have started to become much more ambitious than ever before. So now you don’t even need a ball or a tennis racket or these types of equipment to participate in sport. I personally can tell you that I run in the Yarkon Park in Tel Aviv every morning and it is getting more and more crowded as time goes by.
“For a healthy diet and a healthy lifestyle, Israel has come a long way as more and more people are aware of what they put into their bodies, how much they sleep and how much they engage in physical activity, and Herbalife provides the answer to all these areas.”
While many large companies were naturally impacted negatively by the coronavirus pandemic, Herbalife was actually able to grow its business over the past two years.
“This challenging period has intensified and strengthened the demand for our products. All of them respond to needs that have intensified in recent years, such as obesity, increased life expectancy and awareness of a healthy lifestyle, have gained momentum throughout corona. For example, eating more at home is better for us. Awareness of a healthy lifestyle has also risen significantly – because when it comes to epidemics, background diseases and the need for sporting activities, it will always work in our favor. Another thing that strengthened us is the business opportunity Herbalife offers. Many people who were independent or entrepreneurial unfortunately lost their livelihood. Here was a golden opportunity for them to start a business without a lot of equity. All of these factors undoubtedly strengthened us and I expect that we will end this year with at least a 60% increase.”
With regards to the specific products that Herbalife offers, there is a great variety.
“Herbalife offers several categories, the largest of which is meal replacements that offer products such as smoothies, powders and snacks. These are basically products whose dose consumption is equivalent to meal consumption, meaning they contain all the vitamins and minerals needed for a healthy meal and low calories. Beverages, aloe vera or tea that have a positive effect on the digestive system and metabolism. Another category is the dietary supplements, the classic multivitamin supplements, omega three, schisandra and more in the form of capsules. We have another series called Herbalife 24 which includes products suitable for professional athletes. And, of course, the cosmetics category, because in the end, the skin is the largest organ that also needs to be taken care of.
“Two new categories we will enter in 2021 are iced coffee and savory snacks, as well as whole menus and not just individual products.”
The relationship between Herbalife and the Olympic Committee of Israel has been extremely beneficial all around and is one that hopefully will pay dividends on the podium
“For us the partnership with the Olympic Committee of Israel is a long-term one, because the healthy and active lifestyle is a core attribute to our business,” said Porat. “This is why we announced a few months ago that the local partnership with the OCI will be extended for another seven years, which will include the Olympic Games in Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028, as well as the Winter Olympics even though Israeli delegations to those games are smaller.
Asked for a blue-and-white medal prediction, Porat was diplomatic yet resolute and hopeful.
“I can’t predict how many medals Israeli athletes will win in Tokyo, but I have seen in the last five years what it means to be an Olympic athlete behind the scenes. How much they invest, how they dedicate their life for this change that, depending on a given day, can lead to unpredictable and amazing results. I think that three medals for Israel is realistic, but I must add that being a witness to the effort that these men and women put in, I more importantly want to wish all of them success.”
