Mazda Motor Corp. is betting that Michael Phelps will be as successful an endorser in China as he was a swimmer at last year's Olympic Games.

Michael Phelps and Garrett Weber-Gale celebrate after the U.S. won the men's 4x100m freestyle relay swimming final at the National Aquatics Center during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, in this August 11, 2008.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

Phelps, who is returning to Beijing this week for the first time since winning a record eight gold medals in August, has been signed to be the brand spokesman for Mazda in China, according to a news release by Dynamic Marketing Group's DMG Entertainment unit, which is creating the campaign.

The "seven-figure" accord is the largest single sponsorship for a western celebrity in China's history, according to the release. Telephone and e-mail messages seeking details from Drew Johnson, one of Phelps's agents, weren't immediately returned.

"The people of China have been very supportive of me and my efforts to help promote swimming," Phelps said in a statement. "I am excited to begin 2009 with my first return trip to Beijing since the Games."

In December, Mazda, Japan's fifth-largest carmaker, abandoned its 2010 sales target of 300,000 cars in China because of slumping demand and poor results at a venture with Chongqing Changan Automobile Co., the Economic Observer reported, citing Mazda's top China executive. Mazda sold 105,000 cars in China during the first 10 months of last year, it said.

In August, Phelps eclipsed the single-Games record of seven gold medals set by another American swimmer, Mark Spitz, 36 years earlier, setting seven world records in the process.

Phelps won individual gold in the 400-meter individual medley, 200-meter freestyle, 200-meter butterfly, 200-meter individual medley and 100-meter butterfly, plus team golds in the 400-meter freestyle, 800-meter freestyle and 400- meter medley relays.

(Agencies via China Daily January 6, 2009)