Olympic athletes deserve pay and prize money

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This week, Paris is set to open the thirty-third Olympic Games, 100 years since the Summer Olympics were last held in the City of Lights.

Each Olympiad is marketed as an interlude of peace - a sporting oasis from the harsh realities of the outside world. The athletes, officials, politicians, spectators and commercial agents that enter the bubble are instructed to suspend their normal rules and regular engagements to watch one of the biggest shows on Earth. The Paris Games will be no different.

But behind this mirage of unity, is a massive money-making machine. From 2017 to 2021, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which runs the Games, generated a staggering US$7.6 billion in revenue, mainly from sponsorships, broadcasting rights and spectators.

The pandemic-affected Tokyo 20/21 Olympics raised 4.2 billion US dollars in revenue – equating to earnings of around 370,000 US dollars or every one of the 11,300 competitors at the Games. The athletes themselves received practically nothing.

The only direct benefits athletes receive from the IOC are through its ‘Olympic Scholarship’ programme, which offers special support and assistance to some competitors at the Games. However, this is incredibly limited, equivalent to a meager 0.6 per cent of revenue across the Olympic cycle.

To pull off this great swindle, the IOC, is feeding off a veneer of tradition and ‘amateurism’ through a business model it artfully calls ‘Olympic Solidarity’. Here the IOC claims it distributes 90 per cent of this revenue to its members - the National Olympic Committees and international sports federations.

These bodies tend to operate with minimal transparency and are free to use the funds at their discretion, with little oversight of how they prioritize athletes' needs and interests. It’s not surprising athletes finish a distant last when it comes to sharing in the immense wealth they generate.

Even though some countries offer grants and monetary rewards to medal winners - and international federations like World Athletics have started to pledge payments to top performers - this is far from sufficient. The essence of the Olympics is the collective effort of all athletes, each enduring years of rigorous training and personal sacrifice, not just the select few who reach the podium.

The huge toll this financial precarity has on athletes is real and profound - recent research by the Australian Sports Foundation shows many athletes struggle to afford even the basic costs of competing on the world's biggest stage and have to work several jobs to fund their Olympic dream. 

46 per cent of elite athletes earn under 15,000 a year

Only a handful of the world’s most prominent Olympians can enjoy a lucrative career, for the majority this is a distant reality. The Australian Sports Foundation research shows 46 per cent of elite athletes earn under 15,000 US dollars a year, while 42 per cent report suffering poor mental health because of the financial difficulties they face. We need more research to document the aggravating impact this has on women athletes whose work is inherently more precarious and fragmented.

However, there is another way. Cricketers in New Zealand and Australia benefit from a financial model that ensures considerable revenue is invested in the development and grassroots of the sport, whilst also allowing for revenue sharing directly with athletes. Such frameworks, negotiated in partnership with the athletes through their player associations, have ensured both the exponential economic growth of sport, and that the competitors driving the sport are justly rewarded for their contributions. The world’s Olympians, who are a source of pride for nations across the globe, should enjoy the same.

The upcoming Paris Games, must serve as a turning point. The Olympic motto is “Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together” – in this spirit of togetherness, it’s high time the IOC pays athletes their fair share.