Oscar Pistorius may be heading to prison for five years, but it is his rapidly emptying pocket that will bite more. 

South African Olympics gold medalist Oscar Pistorius was, this morning, sentenced to five years imprisonment for killing model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, but the athlete is not just losing his freedom for the next half decade, he will part ways with millions of dollars.

Pistorius’ life was an inspiring story of ability in disability, and top brands were quick to spot the marketing genius in exploiting his image for commercial gains; he became a marketing phenomenon. Things worked out fine and the athlete was raking in millions, with deals worth over $2 million a year, until he shot Steenkamp dead on Valentine’s Day last year, ironically set aside for the expression of love.

Since then his fortunes have taken a plunge; one after the other, his sponsors severed ties. Nike — one of the world’s most revered sports brand — was not the only brand to drop the athlete, Ossur, Oakley and Thierry Mugler all cancelled contracts with the blade runner.

Sunglasses maker, Oakley in a 2013 statement said: “In light of the recent allegations, Oakley is suspending its contract with Oscar Pistorius, effective immediately.”

Ossur, the Icelandic company that manufactures Pistorius’ running blades also broke their engagement with the athlete last year. “We’re no longer sponsoring Oscar Pistorius,” New York Daily News quoted Sveinn Solvason, Ossur Chief Financial Officer as saying.

Thierry Mugler perfumes followed behind, dropping Pistorius from its advertisements last year. “Out of respect and compassion for the families implicated in this tragedy, Thierry Mugler Perfumes has taken the decision to withdraw all its campaigns with Oscar Pistorius,” owner of the brand, Groupe Clarins said in a statement.

Being an Olympic athlete may not be as lucrative as playing in the English Premier League, or participating in the FIFA World Cup championship, according to CNN, some Olympians live below the poverty line. But for athletes who hold lucrative sponsorship deals, nothing is better than being an Olympic athlete. Some countries also pay their athletes very well for winning medals. South Africa was reported to have paid $65,000 per gold medal in 2012.

For Pistorius, who started participating in the Paralympic Games in 2004, it has been a story littered unselfishly with gold. The athlete has won six gold medals over the last three Paralympic Games, an average of two per tournament. 2016 could have even turned out better if he was participating in the Games, but Pistorius will probably be cooling his ‘blades’ in prison when athletes file out for the Paralympic Games in Brazil. If there was any chance Pistorius was winning gold in Brazil, it’s all gone now.

Since the trial leading to Tuesday’s five-year sentence for Oscar Pistorius started last year, the athlete has been unable to compete. At the 2012 London Olympics, he became the first double amputee to compete in the competition, after a five-year fight for the right to compete on equal terms at the highest level, but he may not be competing in Brazil in 2016.

Professor of Sport Business Strategy at Coventry University, Simon Chadwick earlier in the year wrote of Pistorius: “In many ways, he was also symbolic of this sporting age: a strong brand that stood out in the marketplace, an athlete who engaged consumer attention and a person who added value to the brands that associated with him.”

Everything Chadwick described, Pistorius for now, has lost, and so goes most of his financial fortunes. He had since sold at least a house and a car.

Pistorius’ lawyer, Barry Roux said he expects the athlete to serve only 10 months in jail and the remainder under house arrest. Probation officer, Annette Vergeer had told the court Oscar could become a victim of gang rape in jail, noting that this would “break him as a person”.

Whether he spends 10 months or 10 hours in prison, Pistorius’ life has changed forever, and his career seems over at this point. A conviction and a disgraceful act has cost him the iconic status that endeared brands to him… and their million-dollar contracts.

While all persons directly involved in the case agreed that the judgement was largely fair, Pistorius has much more to worry about than the sentence. He’s 27 and has his whole life, now full of uncertainty ahead of him. But like Chadwick put it, “he has simply been a human being.”