(FORTUNE Magazine) – The Grateful Dead's sponsorship of Lithuania's Olympic basketball team is the latest warp on what's fast becoming a capitalist tradition. With amateurism now a thing of the past, more companies are paying athletes to wear or endorse a wide range of products (see photos for examples). Sponsorships can be collective or individual. Nike is a major backer of American Olympic athletes. Its new clothes will be much in evidence in Barcelona -- and on TV screens worldwide: All U.S. track-and-field competitors will wear Nike shorts and tops. Reebok will provide the warm-up suits that winners will wear on the awards podium. One irony: Nike won't be able to sell its commemorative Olympic apparel in Spain, where the Nike clothing trademark belongs to Juan Amigo Freixas, a Barcelona lawyer. In 1981 he bought the name from the original owner, a sockmaker during the Spanish civil war. Nike was penny-wise, pound-foolish: In 1980 it paid $20,000 for the right to sell its shoes in Spain but wouldn't spend the same sum the following year for the right to sell Nike clothes. Amigo now wants $30 million. Nike, which is suing, says it may lose $20 million in Spanish sales over several years. For most advertisers the Olympics are a win-win situation. Result: Champs seem like human billboards as few limit themselves to one sponsor. Swimmer Janet Evans, 20, who won three golds in 1988, touts Bausch & Lomb Ray-Bans, Coca-Cola, Fuji, Tambrands, and Mizuno and Speedo athletic wear. Reportedly, she got a total purse of $1 million while tennis player Jennifer Capriati, 16, collected $3 million to wear Diadora tennis togs and $2 million to endorse Richardson-Vicks's Oil of Olay.