• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, August 11, 2008

Three of Rodale's sports enthusiast publications are partnering with NBC to provide live text commentary as well as daily blogs for NBC's coverage of the Beijing Olympic Games, beginning today. The deal marks an expansion of Rodale's earlier Olympics-related promotions and events.

Editors from Runner's World, Bicycling and Mountain Bike will post live text commentary on the home pages for track and field and bicycling events at NBCOlympics.com. Amy Burfoot, a well-known runner and editor-at-large for Runner's World, will write daily blog posts about running events. Finally, the NBC Web site will feature articles by the editors on the pages for track and field, bicycling, and marathon events.

In June, Rodale announced an ad campaign by Nissan, the official Olympic sponsor of the 2008 U.S. National Track and Field Team, which touted the car-maker's support for U.S. athletes in the print and online channels of Men's Health, Women's Health, Runner's World, Bicycling, Best Life and Running Times. Nissan also sponsored the Eugene '08 Festival, a celebration of athletic prowess held alongside the tryouts for the Olympic track and field team from June 27th-July 6th, in Eugene, Oregon.

The "Master the Shift" ads feature four famous athletes and trainers--Alberto Salazar, Chris Carmichael, Kathy Kaehler, and Laird Hamilton--promoting their appearances at a series of nine "Master the Shift" events around the country, hosted by Runner's World and sponsored by Nissan.

The events were also promoted with a custom Web site created by Rodale, offering Webisodes, training videos, a weekly sweepstakes, events listings, and social features. Rodale also published a "Runner's World Championship Guide" for the Eugene tryouts, sponsored exclusively by Nissan and distributed nationally at the "Master the Shift" events.