Nu Skin International announced Friday that annual sales of personal care and nutritional products reached $1 billion - and that's before four more Olympic gold medalists and one super-model joined the Nu Skin team.
The Provo-based company introduced gymnast Kerri Strug, speed-skater Dan Jansen, skier Donna Weinbrecht and table tennis player Janet Chen as the newest promoters for Interior Design Nutritional's vitamins and sports drinks.And supermodel Christie Brinkley made her first appearance on behalf of Nu Skin's personal care division, which features skin and hair-care products and makeup.
Some 11,000 distributors from around the world are in Salt Lake City for the company's eighth convention. About 5,000 of the distributors traveled from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau and Korea.
An announcement pertaining to Nu Skin Asia Pacific that was also scheduled to be made Friday was postponed. A company spokeswoman said it would be about 10 days before details of the venture are released.
Nu Skin, which was founded in 1984, had previously reported $500 million in annual sales. The company expanded into 11 new markets in Europe, Asia and Latin America since February 1995.
Asian markets account for much of the company's growth. In 1993, the first year that Nu Skin was available in Japan, sales reached $135 million. Sales are near $100 million in Korea and about the same amount in Taiwan.
Chen, one of the Olympians introduced Friday, is well-known in Taiwan for her table tennis playing. Chen has competed for Taiwan since 1987 and won a gold medal at the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul, Korea.
Nu Skin already had two Olympic gold medalists promoting its products, track and field athletes Florence Griffith Joyner and Al Joyner. The company supplies nutritional supplements to the U.S. Olympic Committee.
Stan Weiss, managing director of the company's nutritional division, said Nu Skin is already talking to organizers of the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City about becoming a sponsor.
Jansen, who finally won a gold medal in his last race during the 1994 Winter Games in Lille-ham-mer, Norway, said such support is crucial for American athletes, who don't get government support.
"It just tops it off that we all believe in the product," Jansen said. All of the Olympians who promote Nu Skin products said they use the nutritional supplements.
Strug's father is even a Nu Skin distributor. Strug, who barely reached the podium at Friday's press conference, completed a second vault despite an injured ankle to secure a gold medal at the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta.