No one ever said being an Olympic athlete is easy, but it might be even harder than
you think. On top of the physical challenges, it's mentally taxing, incredibly isolating,
and doesn't pay well, even for world-class names that everybody knows. This is the hard
truth about being an Olympian.
If you have a kid who wants to be an Olympic athlete someday, you better start playing
the lottery, or get really aggressive with your investments, because training to become
an Olympian costs a lot of money.
How much? According to the Huffington Post, we're talking six figures at a minimum. Speed
skater Eric Flaim, who took two silver medals in his Olympic career, estimates the cost
of winning those medals to be "at least" $250,000.
NBC4 Washington reports that the family of Rachel and Michael Parsons, sibling figure
skaters, spent $500,000 just to get a shot at making the Olympic team. Costs included
ice time, choreography and dance classes, costumes, and travel expenses.
There's almost zero financial support or even earning opportunities for Olympians unless
they're truly famous. CNN reports that only about half of the top-ranked track and field
athletes in the U.S. make more than $15,000 a year, and "IndyStar" reports that most make
even less — about $5,000. There's also no government financial support for American
athletes, who have to rely on private funding or tiny stipends from the governing boards
of their respective sports, which can reportedly be as little as $400 a month.
Considering that it costs six figures just to have a chance at the Olympics, you might
assume there's a huge payout waiting for most Olympians. But the truth is, most Olympians
don't get rich. In fact, being in the Olympics can actually hurt your earning potential.
"It's just money. It's made up."
The Guardian reports that only athletes who compete in top-rated sports have any hope
of making significant money, and even then they usually have to win gold. The top fencers
competing in the Olympics, for example, can expect to earn about $20,000 a year. As ESPN
reports, most Olympic athletes hover just above — or sometimes below — the poverty
line.
In fact, as "Wired" notes, pursuing an Olympic dream can ultimately make it harder to earn
a living. The intense training required usually leaves no time for education or job training,
leaving many retired Olympians with little hope for a good-paying regular job. And even
winning a medal doesn't make you rich — Forbes reports that the U.S. Olympic Committee awards
bonuses of $25,000 for a gold medal, and just $10,000 for a bronze.
As you might imagine, training for the Olympics takes up a lot of time and energy. That often
means that elite athletes sacrifice the schooling that many of us take for granted. As explained
by the "Christian Science Monitor," it can take Olympic-level athletes a decade or more
to earn a college degree because they usually have to squeeze classes between intense workouts
and year-round training.
In the past, most Olympians participated in one or two games before retiring, but in the
modern era it's increasingly common to see athletes return for four or five games, sometimes
delaying their education by decades.
That's pushed the U.S. Olympic Committee and some sports governance boards to prioritize
education in a way they hadn't in the past, but it's often not enough. MPR News reports
that the U.S. Olympic Committee offers scholarships to athletes, but in 2017, it awarded only
about a quarter of the money requested by Olympians trying to pay for college. And even
if athletes attend college, they often have to schedule classes very early or very late
to accommodate their training schedules, or attend school online while frequently traveling
to remote areas with poor internet connections.
It's easy to be in awe of the physical condition most Olympians are in. These are the best
athletes in the world, people who spend most of their time training and practicing — of
course they're in incredible shape. And it's easy to assume that people in such amazing
physical condition are essentially superhuman.
But the fact is, injuries and illnesses are very common, and they're often debilitating.
"MedPage Today" reports that about 10% of athletes in the 2010 winter Olympics sustained
an injury during competition, with ice hockey and Alpine skiing and snowboarding causing
the most injuries. The Institute for Arthroscopy & Sports Medicine in San Francisco puts the
rate slightly higher, estimating that 14% of athletes are injured during the winter
games and 13% during the summer games.
Olympians are also at a very high risk for sickness, especially respiratory diseases.
Scientific American reports that many Olympic athletes suffer from asthma, which can be
caused by extremely cold air and air pollution. NBC4 Washington reports that in the 1996 summer
games, more than 20% of the participating athletes had asthma. And even events that
don't seem like contact sports carry risk of injury — Team USA reports that concussions
are common for synchronized swimmers because teammates are close together in the water
and often get kicked in the head while practicing those elaborate routines.
Aside from the opportunity to set world records and test your physical talents against the
best of the best, the Olympics is also a chance to see the world and have unique experiences.
Unfortunately, many of those unique experiences aren't necessarily the ones you might want
to have. Unless "getting the plague" is on your bucket list.
This was true even before the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2016, University of Utah Health listed
the Zika virus as the primary health concern for Olympians headed to Rio that year. Number
two was MRSA, which is unfortunately common in full-contact sports, where cuts and abrasions
are frequent.
Outbreak Observatory explains that infectious diseases like influenza and norovirus are
common in close, cramped conditions — just like those in the Olympic Village. As noted
by the Jakarta Post, several Olympic Games have been marred by outbreaks of infectious
diseases. In fact, as "Wired" reports, many epidemiologists think of the Olympic games
as opportunities to study infectious diseases and how they spread.
The fastest way to destroy your reputation as a world-class athlete is to get caught
doping — something Marion Jones and Lance Armstrong can both attest to. While most of
us would agree that Olympians who use performance-enhancing drugs deserve all the punishment they get,
it's depressingly easy to be falsely accused of doping.
It's so easy, in fact, that when U.S. middle-distance runner Shelby Houlihan claimed she tested
positive for a banned steroid called nandrolone because of a burrito she ate, the excuse wasn't
totally crazy, according to "Slate." Nandrolone isn't commonly abused these days, but it is
a common contaminant in meat.
Accidental positives are a growing problem. The New York Times reports that it really
is possible to ingest a banned substance entirely by accident, as happened when sprinter LaShawn
Merritt bought a male-enhancement product called ExtenZe at a 7-11. He didn't know the
supplement contained two banned steroid derivatives. And, "Slate" notes, dietary supplements are
increasingly blamed for trace amounts of banned substances, leading to disqualifications and
ruined careers.
Any athlete will tell you that the mental aspect is just as important as the physical
aspect of competition. Yet the mental aspect is often totally ignored after the medals
have been handed out. "SELF" reports that mental health disorders are common among the
elite level of athletes who typically compete at the Olympics. The Atlantic explains that
the intense concentration and sustained adrenaline that makes the Olympics such an amazing experience
for these athletes is almost impossible to recapture once the competition is over. The
resulting mental exhaustion is often a precursor to clinical depression.
Olympic swimmer Allison Schmitt explains one aspect of the problem — Olympians have spent
their lives pushing through pain and denying impairment in order to stay in the game. "TopResume"
explains that training and competing is a highly-structured life, and that when it suddenly
ends, athletes can find themselves confused as to how to manage their time, all while
dealing with a loss of identity now that they're no longer defined as an Olympic athlete. Altogether,
it's a recipe for bad mental health.
Chances are the Olympians you remember are the ones that won gold medals. But sometimes
the difference between gold and silver is incredibly small. For example, you probably
know that Michael Phelps has won a boatload of gold medals (23 in all), but you probably
don't remember that, as "Wired" explains, in 2008 Phelps beat Serbia's Milorad Cavic
by 4.7 millimeters in the 100-meter butterfly event. Milorad had actually set an Olympic
record earlier in the event, but most people only remember Phelps' phenomenal finish.
"Anything less than first place will not be tolerated. In fact, it'll be punished."
These kinds of extremely close finishes are fairly common. Buzzfeed reports that in 2016,
the winner of the sculling competition had to be determined by photo because it was so
close. The vast majority of Olympic athletes don't get much media attention, or sponsorship
deals, even if they come incredibly close to medaling.
Today reports that whereas bronze medalists are typically more content, silver medalists
often experience depression and stress because they came so close to winning.
It's natural to see someone at the absolute top of their chosen sport and see only the
skill, medals, and adulation. But, as BBC Sport explains, elite athletes often have
no one to turn to when injuries or mistakes cost them a medal, leaving them feeling isolated.
There are very few people who understand what it's like to be an Olympian, after all.
According to the "Varsity," depression and loneliness afflict Olympians competing in
individual sports most acutely. But even in team sports, athletes often feel isolated
and unable to express themselves, especially if they worry that admitting depression or
fear will be seen as weak and change their teammates' perception of them.
Even those who do take home the gold aren't immune from struggles with mental health.
The Guardian reports that even Michael Phelps felt the crushing loneliness of being an Olympian,
struggling with alcohol and entering rehab, and gold medalist Ian Thorpe wrote candidly
about his struggles with loneliness and depression in his autobiography.
You might imagine that the elite athletes who compete at the Olympics each year are
pretty comfortable with their bodies. After all, they have to be in amazing shape just
to qualify, much less win a medal.
But, according to CBC Sports, athletes often develop eating disorders and body image problems.
This is in part because competitive athletes are often hyper-focused on their weight and
other aspects of their bodies. At the high levels, even the slightest bit of extra weight
or weak muscle can make a difference. In addition, athletes are constantly faced with competitors
who may be larger or smaller or simply in better shape. And finally, sponsorships and
endorsement deals, sometimes the only route to financial stability for Olympians, often
demand a certain look that is not always in line with a healthy physique.
Olympians find themselves on the biggest stage in the world and the focus of the international
media. But the Olympics have long been marketed as an opportunity for the world to set aside
its problems and differences, and a place to come together in celebration of what binds
us. As such, remarkably few athletes use their time in the spotlight to speak out on issues
important to them. There's a very good reason for this — "Forbes" explains that Rule 50
of the Olympic charter expressly forbids participating athletes from any form of protest or politically
motivated demonstration. In other words, if you want to compete in the Olympics, you must
agree to keep your mouth shut.
"Play the Game" reports that Olympians are starting to mount a resistance to this gag
rule. In 2020, a group of athletes sent an open letter to the International Olympic Committee
asking for the rule to be changed or eliminated. "Reuters" reports that these efforts are supported
by Germany's athletic association, Athleten Deutschland, which noted that the wave of
protests in the wake of the killing of George Floyd in 2020 makes it clear that Rule 50
is an outdated and even dangerous concept. The association issued a statement that said,
"Athletes should be free to peacefully declare their support for the values of our free and
democratic society at any time."
The outcry didn't work. According to USA Today, the IOC decided in April 2021 that Rule 50
still stands, and punishment for breaking it will be determined collectively by the
IOC, the specific sport's international federation, and the athletes' home country Olympic committee.
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