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Olympians are turning to OnlyFans to fund dreams as they face a 'broken' finance system

Dire financial straits are leading droves of Olympic athletes to sell images of their bodies to subscribers on OnlyFans — known for sexually explicit content — to sustain their dreams of gold at the Games. As they struggle to make ends meet, a spotlight is being cast on an Olympics funding system that watchdog groups condemn as “broken,” claiming most athletes “can barely pay their rent.”

The Olympics, the world’s biggest sporting stage, bring in billions of dollars in TV rights, ticket sales and sponsorship, but most athletes must fend for themselves financially.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) did not express concern about the situation. When asked by The Associated Press about athletes turning to OnlyFans, IOC spokesman Mark Adams said, “I would assume that athletes, like all citizens, are allowed to do what they can.”

Watching his sponsorships dry up and facing mounting costs, Jack Laugher was among the pantheon of Olympic athletes using the often-controversial platform to get to the Games — or simply survive.

M0oP0o ,
@M0oP0o@mander.xyz avatar

Don’t worry, Coca-Cola and the like will continue making buckets of cash from the Olympics…

Wait non companies need money too?

zabadoh ,

If you can imagine the ancient Olympics with all those naked male athletes running and flexing, the sex trade would have been happening back then too.

Lots of consensual sex happens in modern Olympic villages today, because just healthy young people getting together.

fox2263 ,

*extremely healthy in peak physical condition riding high on adrenaline.

thetreesaysbark , (edited )

I thought the point being made here is that they should be making enough money to not have to resort to Only fans.

What does whether they’re getting it on in camp or not have to do with this article?

LustyArgonianMana , (edited )
@LustyArgonianMana@lemmy.world avatar

I think people are forgetting something, which is that younger people like clout. OnlyFans isn’t really that taboo for a lot of younger people. It’s associated with being hot and making money. A lot of Olympians probably WANTED their OnlyFans to pop off because they thought it was cool. And they don’t have to show full nudes or sex, many just post in swimsuits, softcore porn, or tasteful covered nudes. Being “forced” to do OnlyFans is a bit of a stretch for some athletes, but I agree that the games in general are exploiting the athletes. I think the games themselves could be considered a type of sex work, though.

While some athletes say they don’t see what they’re doing as sex work, German diver Bartel put it frankly: “In sport, you wear nothing but a Speedo, so you’re close to being naked.”

“The entire funding model for Olympic sport is broken. The IOC generates now over US$1.7 billion per year and they refuse to pay athletes who attend the Olympics,” said Rob Koehler, Global Athlete’s director general.

He criticized the IOC for forcing athletes to sign away their image rights.

“The majority of athletes can barely pay their rent, yet the IOC, national Olympic committees and national federations that oversee the sport have employees making over six figures. They all are making money off the backs of athletes. In a way, it is akin to modern-day slavery,” Koehler said.

It is amazing how sex work specifically makes people hate capitalism. People don’t mind a capitalist, but as soon as that capitalist is a pimp or madame, then they can see the immorality

TankovayaDiviziya , (edited )

I reckon that it is to fund their own training when their government is too corrupt and uncaring to support them. Us in the West take for granted that the government provide support to train prospective athletes; but it’s not so much in developing countries. The Philippines’ first ever Olympic gold medallist- Hydeline Diaz- won two years ago in Tokyo. But prior to that, she begged and implored to both the public and the government to provide financial support her aspirations to compete in the Olympics but she was shunned. It was only after she won gold, unexpectedly, that everyone tried to rub their shoulders with her to play as sycophants. This year, Filipino politicians and business elites have also been brown nosing themselves to Carlos Yulo after winning two gold medals.

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

The Olympics was intended for amateur athletes, but they’re all essentially professionals now if they have any chance of medaling (the Turkish shooter excepted) because they get years of specialized training. And, of course, they find endless new ways to abuse those athletes’ bodies by using ever-more sophisticated ways to secretly dope them.

Half of them will be broken by the time they’re 30. I’m not at all surprised that this is what they have to resort to.

ThePyroPython ,

And the Olympics being for “amateurs” was a deliberate effort by the Olympic committee when the modern games were started to exclude the working classes from competing.

The whole “best of the best” is just branding. The Olympics needs serious reform.

SturgiesYrFase ,
@SturgiesYrFase@lemmy.ml avatar

Yeah, by “amateurs” they meant wealthy men who didn’t work and so had spare time to get good at sport. Really good Behind the Bastards episodes that touch on this actually.

Behind the Bastards - Part One: How Avery Brundage Gave Hitler an Olympics

Behind the Bastards - Part Two: How Avery Brundage Gave Hitler an Olympics

ThePyroPython ,

Hell yeah, another BTB listener? There’s dozens of us, dozens!

bradorsomething ,

You know who else gives things to Hitler?

Viking_Hippie ,

The sponsors of this comment thread!

Corkyskog ,

There’s millions who stream or download each episode. It’s in the top 200 podcasts by listener, and their is a shitload of podcasts out there.

ThePyroPython ,

T’was an arrested development reference sir.

SturgiesYrFase ,
@SturgiesYrFase@lemmy.ml avatar

We need to come up with like…a secret handshake…or like…idfk…a gang sign or something?

Ejh3k ,

A fellow podcast addict user, I see.

Paddzr ,

Do you know why? Because rich people didn’t want to compete against the poor. If you couldn’t afford to compete, you didn’t. The rich can’t didn’t fancy meeting Gary the local bouncer in a boxing match.

History of Olympics is fucked up.

outdated2139 ,

Why is the Turkish shooter excepted?

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

Because he apparently didn’t have years of training, based on what I read.

outdated2139 ,

He’s been shooting for a long time and has a bunch of records and awards.

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

But not professional training.

breadsmasher ,
@breadsmasher@lemmy.world avatar

Arent the olympians supposed to be “non professional”? Or maybe it used to be

NOT_RICK ,
@NOT_RICK@lemmy.world avatar

Hasn’t been that way for 30 odd years. Think of Jordan’s dream team

JoMiran ,
@JoMiran@lemmy.ml avatar

I think this needs a bit more context. Before “the dream team” the US only sent NCAA basketball players. The same goes with all sports, including hockey. The US’s complaint was that other countries were sending their professional players. Cuba’s baseball team, the USSR’s hockey team, etc. were solely comprised of essentially professional players that did they sport for a living. It was successfully argued that this was an unfair advantage for countries with programs like this.

PS: This is why “The Miracle on Ice”, when the US beat the USSR in hockey was such a big deal. The US team was essentially a bunch college kids while the USSR was playing with arguably the best hockey players in the world at the time. It was the equivalent to Puerto Rico beating the original Dream Team in basketball.

Kalkaline ,
@Kalkaline@leminal.space avatar

Are you saying they should be jobless hobos?

breadsmasher ,
@breadsmasher@lemmy.world avatar

Not at all

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

They should be funded by the IOC. Right now, they’re being paid by their country (if they want to have a chance of medaling).

They also rarely train inside that country or with a trainer from that country. Many of them go to the U.S. for training and stay there for years.

nonailsleft ,

And how do you suggest the IOC should get the money to pay for all those ‘employees’ ?

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

From the article:

The Olympics, the world’s biggest sporting stage, bring in billions of dollars in TV rights, ticket sales and sponsorship, but most athletes must fend for themselves financially.

nonailsleft ,

Ok, so the IOC should be taking that revenue away from the host country and expect them to pay for the infrastructure and staff at an even bigger loss?

Which country or city would want to do that?

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

It doesn’t say the host country is the one that makes the money. And I’m sure they can spare a billion or two for the athletes.

DirigibleProtein ,

They should have a full time job to fund their hobby like normal people.

cynthorpe ,

Like an OnlyFans job?

girlfreddy OP ,
@girlfreddy@lemmy.ca avatar

Olympic sport = hObBiE

Riiight.

originalucifer ,
@originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com avatar

i feel like these athletes need to have a plan B for real jobs.

the olympics have been bastardized into a corporate for-profit orgy. theres no honor in these games. its sad that these humans who feel they are accomplishing something dont see the truth; theyre just tools that can be discarded.

cynthorpe ,

Well, the plan is to get corporate sponsors. That’s always been the road.

Edit: always as in the past ~50 years.

originalucifer ,
@originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com avatar

really? which corps sponsored the roman olympics?

or is this a recent requirement because humans dont actually put money into humanities without some profit incentive?

cynthorpe ,

I edited the comment prior to your reply specifying the last 50 years.

originalucifer ,
@originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com avatar

and thats spose to make it ok?

cynthorpe ,

The comment was never not okay. It’s a comment. Don’t be mad that I thought to be more specific about my comment before you got a chance to take your bad day out on a random person. I suggest taking your crappy attitude somewhere else. I assure you, no satisfaction will be gained by talking to me.

originalucifer ,
@originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com avatar

i was expecting a discussion on the poisoning of the olympics by corporate entities, but all you did was point out it is 'new' as if that matters somehow

I assure you, no satisfaction will be gained by talking to me.

too late, but i get it; youre done. no prob

cynthorpe ,

If that’s what you wanted, you should have been more specific instead of assuming a jab would have been the proper way to have a polite conversation. I’m glad to know you can get satisfaction out of playing with yourself online. ✌️

originalucifer ,
@originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com avatar

B====>

Kaboom ,

In the Roman Olympics, only rich people could compete. Now it’s better, not perfect, but better.

ogmios ,
@ogmios@sh.itjust.works avatar

its sad that these humans who feel they are accomplishing something dont see the truth; theyre just tools that can be discarded.

They are accomplishing something. It’s just not recognized by the greedy fuckwits exploiting their achievements for profit.

Auli ,

I’m wondering about viewership this year. Nobody I know is watching or talking about the games. Besides what hits social media like the Turkish shooter.

catloaf ,

A lot of people I know are watching, and more than just the memes.

kamenoko ,

You can’t win if you have a plan B. Especially in prestige events. Either the athlete is fully supported by their countries association or they hope to get top 30.

lemmus ,
@lemmus@lemmy.world avatar

Make the “permanent” seats on the UN Security Council conditional on being in the top five Olympic gold medal rankings and all of a sudden we’ll see endless streams of government funding for athletes.

frankgrimeszz ,

Coomer world.

ogmios ,
@ogmios@sh.itjust.works avatar

Should pay them with the advertising revenue they make possible.

MediaBiasFactChecker Bot ,

Associated Press - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)Information for Associated Press:
> MBFC: Left-Center - Credibility: High - Factual Reporting: High - United States of America
> Wikipedia about this source

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