Sponsorship Announcement Gone Wrong

The CEO of Synergy sponsorship consultancy, Tim Crow, asked whether this was the sponsorship gaffe of the year? He was referring to the CEO of Virgin Blue, who yesterday inadvertently announced that Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe (whom the airline just signed to a lucrative sponsorship deal) would win many more medals for Qantas, Virgin Blue's competitor and Borghetti's former employer.

The Age reports that Borghetti spent most of his working life and had been a senior executive at Qantas before taking over Virgin Blue last year.

The incident didn't help ebb the criticism from some that surrounded a sponsor making the official announcement about Thorpe's return to the pool. The Age writes that former Olympic long jumper David Culbert "was left flabbergasted as he watched what will remain one of the most anticipated sporting announcements of the year be made not by Thorpe, but by John Borghetti."

Read more about how this all went down from The Age.