To be annoyed with the idolisation of Olympic athletes?

[Floogal]

Sick of this every 4 years. I am not against the Olympics per se. I like watching the judo, boxing, handball and volleyball. But these points explain why I find hero worship of athletes annoying.

1. People are very quick to moan about how footballers are overpaid for simply playing football. Or Connor McGregor being on benefits while training to be in the UFC. They are fair points, however Olympic atheltes paid a healthy income and have a lot of their expenses paid for.
2. Similar to the previous point, I hate the way they are lauded by the media and given honours for doing something that pays quite well and that they enjoy.
3. I remember last week we were watching ITV news. There was a feature about private sector carers being overworked and underpaid and how it impacts their personal lives. Later there was a documentary about Olympic athletes, many going on about sacrificing their leisure and family lives. Bit hard to feel sorry for them.
4. The government and media (as well as professional athletes) like to go on about how obese and unhealthy most people are. Well most people would love to only worry about excercise and nutrition, but SOME OF US HAVE TO WORK FOR A LIVING!
5. This point has been touched upon by the media and few recent MN threads. Many of the athletes come from affluent backgrounds!
6. The athletes featured on the Purple Bricks adverts come across as really unpleasant. Bit of a backfire.

What does everyone else think?

They are all ametur. Professional athletes can't compete in the Olympics. If you're not interested don't watch, it's easy to avoid. Good luck to them, what an achievement to get there.

Most sportspeople are really badly paid.

Not sure why working for a living means you're forced to be obese either, plenty of people who work manage to exercise.

Sportspeople being paid to do sport has no relevance or connection to the salaries of carers.

You sound really quite bitter.

And surely the whole point of the Purple Bricks advert is to make them seem serious in contrast to the estate agent character?

Or are you so wound up in your own issues that you completely missed that too?

I'd rather their achievements are celebrated than reality stars, I think the graft is hard and the pay isn't that great, good for them. Easy enough to avoid if they annoy you, and comparing them to footballers is really ignorant.

Professional athletes can't compete in the Olympics.

Isn’t that fudged for tennis and possibly some other sports?

Because professional tennis players certainly do compete in the olympics.

Get over yourself 🙄

I know an Olympian who had to quit her sport due to being laid off at 3 different jobs after prioritising training. She was broke, nearly 30 and lived in her childhood bedroom because she didn’t get any money from her sport.

I know a few olympians and none of them earned big bucks and are limiterd in their day jobs due to travelling to camps and competitions.

God, I watched a documentary about Jade Jones this week, showed her (double Olympic Champion) helping her dad collect scrap. Nothing like a footballer's kind of income. It also mentioned she flat shares with a few other people with her boyfriend as well. YABVU.

I agree with you, OP. It's almost just a vanity project if it's not something they can make a career out of. Who will actually care in a year's time who won the badminton final in the Olympics? It's nice for the competitors if they get to win, of course, but I think it's exceptionally tone deaf to expect anybody else to care even a little bit that a stranger couldn't afford a better dressage horse when so many people are desperately struggling to just keep a roof over their family's heads and put food on the table.

What does everyone else think?

That people who start posts just to moan about the Olympics are pretty miserable tbh.

People could do with inspiration at any time, but rught now having something other than you know what, to talk about is a welcome relief.

@MereDintofPandiculation

Agree with you about people being given medals for their jobs. Ditto actors etc.

Er they don’t all get medals for a start ffs.

And actually some people do get bonuses for doing their job when some may argue that they’re mediocre.

Yabu.
They have years of their lives utterly consumed by training and all focused on a tiny competitive window of about a week. They are not well paid like footballers.

ohhh dear.....i dont think this is the response the OP wanted!!

quite the opposite i believe!

The idea that athletes get a healthy income made me snort my tea. I've trained with Olympic athletes, including ones in the media. Trust me, many are also waiting tables to pay the bills - anything that will fit around their training schedules.

Their sacrifices, particularly women, in terms of social and family life are immense. AND their sports careers are so short most have their eyes on plans for post-sport because coaching alone won't add up to full time work.

@Floogal

Sick of this every 4 years. I am not against the Olympics per se. I like watching the judo, boxing, handball and volleyball. But these points explain why I find hero worship of athletes annoying.

1. People are very quick to moan about how footballers are overpaid for simply playing football. Or Connor McGregor being on benefits while training to be in the UFC. They are fair points, however Olympic atheltes paid a healthy income and have a lot of their expenses paid for.
2. Similar to the previous point, I hate the way they are lauded by the media and given honours for doing something that pays quite well and that they enjoy.
3. I remember last week we were watching ITV news. There was a feature about private sector carers being overworked and underpaid and how it impacts their personal lives. Later there was a documentary about Olympic athletes, many going on about sacrificing their leisure and family lives. Bit hard to feel sorry for them.
4. The government and media (as well as professional athletes) like to go on about how obese and unhealthy most people are. Well most people would love to only worry about excercise and nutrition, but SOME OF US HAVE TO WORK FOR A LIVING!
5. This point has been touched upon by the media and few recent MN threads. Many of the athletes come from affluent backgrounds!
6. The athletes featured on the Purple Bricks adverts come across as really unpleasant. Bit of a backfire.

What does everyone else think?

What do I think? That you are incredibly ignorant and have made yourself look like a completely uninformed tit with this post.

I think you’re a misery guts. Just don’t watch if it annoys you so much.

Olympians are paid a tiny fraction of the salaries premier league footballers earn.

Pro athletes do compete in the Olympics. It hasn't been amateur only for decades.

However, the point that OP seems to overlook is that these athletes are literally the best in the world at what they are doing. In most cases, we're not talking about 'can run a bit faster than me' or 'are a bit better at rowing than that guy I knew at college' (and the most cases are to cover people who went to college with Matthew Pinsent!). We are talking about a combination of talent, commitment and dedication that makes them the very best. I think that's quite laudable. And, if someone can make a good living out of his or her talent, good luck. I've far more respect for that than someone who lives comfortably on the investments they inherited from their families.

There are undoubtedly many problems with the Olympics, and with elite level sport in general. But I don't think respect and admiration for the athletes is a significant one, tbh.

6. The athletes featured on the Purple Bricks adverts come across as really unpleasant. Bit of a backfire.

They're playing a role in a commercial, not being themselves...

@TheKeatingFive

Professional athletes can't compete in the Olympics.

Isn’t that fudged for tennis and possibly some other sports?

Because professional tennis players certainly do compete in the olympics.

Yeah, As Andy Murray is definitely professional, did they also change it for Boxing or am i thinking of something else?

We were just talking about salaries and looked up American swimming salaries. They get paid around $3k a month which isn't actually a hell of a lot really.

They get a bonus if they win a medal. hardly comparable to forty players earning thousands and thousands every week and then maybe not even playing in a big game...

YA soooo U.

@Midnightballerina

They are all ametur. Professional athletes can't compete in the Olympics. If you're not interested don't watch, it's easy to avoid. Good luck to them, what an achievement to get there.

Simone Biles went pro before Rio - it's why she can't compete in collegiate gymnastics. Many others in the same boat too.

@Midnightballerina

They are all ametur. Professional athletes can't compete in the Olympics. If you're not interested don't watch, it's easy to avoid. Good luck to them, what an achievement to get there.

Footballers, basketball players, tennis players, hockey players are all professional (the majority) as are the golfers toname but a few

Professional sportspeople can now take part in the Olympics, but everything else stands. It's poorly paid and they can't all go on to have presenting jobs, etc. Even if they do, they're very sporadic, so they have to have something else to bring in the money.

Really?

Well completely missed that!! I thought there was mention when Katie Taylor going professional and her then not being in thr Olympics.