Memories of the London Olympics are already beginning to fade. Li Ning, a Chinese sportswear maker, had better hope that they last a while longer.

Like thousands of Chinese companies from property developers to car manufacturers, Li Ning is sitting on a mountain of unsold products. Whether they can whittle down these bulging inventories is the single most important question facing corporate China and arguably the economy as a whole.

Many are struggling, but Li Ning at least got timely help from the Olympics when the coolest of the athletes that it sponsored – the hirsute Spanish men’s basketball team and bad-boy badminton champion Lin Dan of China – performed exceptionally well. The hope, of course, is that the boost to its brand image will now translate into stronger sales.