I imagine that most of the athletes we see on the Olympics - such as curlers, lugers, and bobsledders - have to have day-jobs to support their athletic endeavors (in addition to whatever sports organization subsidies.). I imagine the top figure skaters get contracts to skate in ice shows, but assume most of the also-rans have to pay for their icetime. But for others - such as skiers or snowboarders - there is a regular competition circuit.
For golfers (just about the only sport I follow at all, and an individual competition I imagine analogous to the ski circuit), the prize money of each event and season’s/career earnings are prominently publicized, but not so for winter sports.
Does anyone have good cites as to how much which winter sports athletes earn from competition? And how much which athletes earn from endorsements? Take a top star, like Shawn White or Lindsey Vonn. What is their annual income? And what are their annual expenses to travel and compete.
Personally, I’m not as interested in hockey. If I were curious, I could find salary/endorsement info similar to that available for other pro team athletes.
AFAIK the lesser sports - the ones that don’t have huge sponsorships and frequent TV time - the athletes do struggle to survive. Canadian news around Olympic time (summer or winter) is full of stories of speed skaters, luge, assorted gymnastics, weightlifting, synchronized swimming, etc. where the parents spend tens to hundreds of thousands over the years to allow their children to compete in national and occasional international competitions, for no real payback other than satisfaction. The lucky athletes find jobs where the employer tolerates their frequent absences. Some organizations like soccer have national organizations that take care of the team members. The only payoff is national fame followed by endorsements if they make the news as a multiple medal winner. (Think Bruce Jenner).
OTOH, some sports have decent prize pay-offs, but they are also the ones you see on TV from time to time. For example, here is the money ranking for World Cup (CHF is Swiss Francs, I believe.) It kind of reminds me of golf tournament payouts, and the same applies as golf - some of the lesser prizes may not even cover the costs of getting to compete.
The top US winter sports athletes by endorsements are Lindsey Vonn ($5 million), Shaun White ($4 million) and Mikaela Shiffrin ($3 million). This is from various sources but they all seem to agree.
You should realise that many of the sports on the olympics are very popular some place or another.
Long track speed skating is very popular in the Netherlands with many (all?) skaters having pro contracts through commercially sponsored teams. Some of the non- Dutch skaters are also sponsored by Dutch companies and you’ll find Dutch advertising in most of the venues (regardless of the country they are in). The top Dutch skaters make a very good living. Pretty much everyone on the circuit is in it full time, although I’m sure some are subsidized by the government.
Similarly, skiing is very popular in Austria and Switzerland. Cross country in Norway, short track in Korea and ski jumpers are like rock stars in parts of Austria, Germany and Norway.
Even non-olympic sports like cyclocross (biking in the rough during the winter) can support dozens of full time athletes, just because it is very popular in Flanders (not even the whole of Belgium).
Thanks. Was unsure, but thought as a factual answer was possible…
Thanks again. Speedskating was the sport I was most familiar with, as my wife and kids participated, wife managed a team, was involved in regional governance/competitions, and knew many folk who are skating/coaching/officiating in this and past several Os.
I remember several years back, discussing a specific European sponsorship for one particular US skater, which would essentially represent a living wage - tho not crazy wealth. And this guy was pretty much of a star, a repeated medalist (tho an absolute asshole! ;))
We know several other people on and associated with the national team, and AFAIK, all of them are either young and supported by their families, or have day jobs.
It always amuses/surprises me when I find that there are “pros” making darned good living from activities such as - drone racing, paintballing, model helicopter competitions… "D But my understanding is that such folk are definitely the exception rather than the rule.
Ha, I can’t help but wonder if he was called Chad:). I can imagine that the Dutch athletes get more, and it’s probably more a “living wage” than getting set for life. Of course, in a country where the sport is popular there are more opportunities to get a job in the “business” once you are done competing. There’s about a handful of former Gold medal winners I see on TV everyday now (and then there are people that are involved with some of these teams as trainers).
Funnily enough I just heard that earlier this year there was a crowdfunding initiative to get Esmee Visser some new skates… she won the gold on the 5000 today. But that was a bit of a one off, because she is really just breaking trough and has not signed for any commercial team yet. She trains with one of the local organisations in Groningen. Her olympic gold medal race was only her third international competition (she won the other two as well), and a couple of months ago she was the big surprise when she qualified for the olympics. There are some great clips of her not even knowing when the olympics where going to take place.