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?

Of all the Olympics this is the one where more of Team GB (or the team you are supporting) need our support. All those years of training and hard work with family taking them to training at silly hours of the morning sacrificing so much time to it and they make it to the Olympics and those family members aren't allowed to be there.

I do realise for athletes from many countries this is the reality every Olympics, it must be emotional for them all.

Happy to idolise them! I can just about do c25k and it’s hard bloody work, they are amazing and show what the human body can do. Cracking role models who should be celebrated (and paid appropriately, it’s not a race to the bottom).

Ha, I wish! As a partner of a former Olympian I promise you there was no healthy income! Some travel was paid, travel for all the qualifying events in the preceding four years was not. Training evenings and weekends whilst working a normal full time job, every days holiday spent on competing. And not just the athletes but all the officials too have to do the same in order to be selected. It really is a second full time unpaid job.

I find it odd that if you happen to get a medal then you almost automatically get an OBE or MBE or even a knighthood!

Not sure why as these are services to your country entitlements, not being ' good at a random sport' award.

Most of the sports in the Olympics, you can now be a professional, the one main one is Boxing, which you have to be an amature to compete, Which is why many of our boxers, once they have won the gold, then go into it professionally you can't have both, unlike the Tennis (Andy Murray) Football (David Beckham was in one year) Golf etc.

I also think the amature rules apply to wrestling, which is why WWE is refered to as sports entertainment, because one of the wrestlers wanted to compete in the Olympics.

@DroopyClematis those who are awarded an honour are far more deserving than those who have supported the Tories as a backbencher MP for 20 years, or someone such as Dido Harding.

The supposed idolisation of Olympic athletes seems to be for a very small proportion of them. The UK team is 376 strong.

I was reading earlier about one of the competitors in the international refugee team. He fled Cameroon and sought asylum in the UK. He was homeless for a while and the police had to intervene when he was seriously suicidal. He now is a mental health nurse as well as being a weightlifter with multiple titles under his belt. I'd say that was pretty impressive wouldn't you?

@DroopyClematis er maybe because they have represented their country on the world stage at the top of their sport?
Who would you give honours to?

YABU, obviously.

The vast majority of Olympic athletes train for four years to get their one moment of glory. There is no money in swimming, rowing, gymnastics and so many other Olympic sports. These athletes have no £multi-million contracts or sponsors or prize funds. If they are lucky enough to be British they get lottery funding, which is a subsistence wage, not a fortune. Other countries’ athletes have to fund themselves.

I admire that far more than I admire Chelsea’s reserve left back or Manchester United’s third choice goalkeeper who earn tens of thousands pounds a week for doing very little work.

Rather my teens idolise then than the love island crowd🙄 what a silly ignorant OP

@mynameiscalypso

I was reading earlier about one of the competitors in the international refugee team. He fled Cameroon and sought asylum in the UK. He was homeless for a while and the police had to intervene when he was seriously suicidal. He now is a mental health nurse as well as being a weightlifter with multiple titles under his belt. I'd say that was pretty impressive wouldn't you?

I know this guy! Hes a beautiful person 🙂

[quote newnortherner111]@DroopyClematis those who are awarded an honour are far more deserving than those who have supported the Tories as a backbencher MP for 20 years, or someone such as Dido Harding.

The supposed idolisation of Olympic athletes seems to be for a very small proportion of them. The UK team is 376 strong.[/quote]
Politics has nothing to do with what I said, not sure that mentioning Dido Harding is relevant to this at all.
Yes we have a large team but it seems as though anyone who wins a medal will often be repaid with a gong.
Not sure what your argument is.

@Letsallscreamatthesistene Oh, that's so nice to know! He comes across really well in interviews and he sounds pretty amazing.

@Sparklesocks

I think it’s impressive to be at the top of your field in a particular sporting event, and to train as hard as they do. I don’t think most people ‘idolise’ them as such, just respect their skill/perseverance.

Agreed. I think the OP is a bit sour and small minded.

The hard work and perseverance is a great role model for young people too.

Well OP, I am not a sports lover by any means by I’ve been watching some highlights for about 20 minutes now and so far I have seen one cyclist that has won a gold medal who also has a PHD in maths and another that is a full time mum of 3 kids and returned to cycling after her 3rd child was born. Both pretty inspirational women I would say and very much role model material for my own daughters.

To a lesser extent yes. More the hypocrisy- generally disabled people are treated very badly (hate crimes, unemployment, etc). It's like Paralympics are the acceptable face of disability.
My dad's got a nervous system disorder and uses a wheelchair before anyone accuses me of being ableist

@Floogal

To a lesser extent yes. More the hypocrisy- generally disabled people are treated very badly (hate crimes, unemployment, etc). It's like Paralympics are the acceptable face of disability. My dad's got a nervous system disorder and uses a wheelchair before anyone accuses me of being ableist

Well this is an entirely different issue to your OP.....

I think there was a stat that said a third of Olympic athletes are privately educated. And a lot of the rest are probably very affluent backgrounds. It is frustrating that there isn’t a more diverse representation. I think that shows how more should be spent on sports for young people not just wealthy young people.

I don’t even get the argument about footballers being overpaid to be honest. Take the richest footballer Cristiano Ronaldo - net worth half a billion dollars. One of the most recognized, watched and idolized people on the planet....wouldn’t even make the list of the top 200 richest people in Britain.

Fun fact: between 2020-2021 Britain’s billionaires collectively grew their wealth by $61 billion dollars. That’s $61,000,000,000.
www.forbes.com/sites/daviddawkins/2021/04/07/uk-billionaires-are-collectively-61-billion-richer-than-a-year-ago/?sh=3d70fc712c54

Talk of footballers is a distraction from a super elite that is growing ever richer and more powerful and influential, while living standards for the masses stagnant and even fall.

@Floogal

To a lesser extent yes. More the hypocrisy- generally disabled people are treated very badly (hate crimes, unemployment, etc). It's like Paralympics are the acceptable face of disability. My dad's got a nervous system disorder and uses a wheelchair before anyone accuses me of being ableist

Just because your Dad uses a wheelchair, it doesn’t make you less ableist.

Plenty of Paralympians have spoken about discrimination they’ve faced. In the news this week has been a story of a deaf blind paralympian that can’t compete after all because their carer was refused entry to the olympics.

OP is someone who understands very little about Olympic funding structure. Some sports are not even funded and those fused by lottery do not pay as well as you think. Ultimately, these athletes are training everyday for 4 years in the hope that they make it to the Olympics (they almost didn’t this time around), sometimes just one injury can rule out their participation, sometimes they will get beaten up by a roped up Russian athlete or a well funded team from another country. Essentially, it s a lot of hard work for returns for only a few. And a short career. It’s only lucrative if you manage to no overcome all the advantages and win golds in a memorable way, then after retiring you may do well on tv or in the media. Very very very few of us could perform at that elite level.

@Cam77 I don't either & I have no interest in football. I don't watch it or buy merchandise, if millions of others do then of course the footballers will earn ££££

It's no different then buying Beyoncé's music etc but musicians don't get the same accusations like footballers.

@MsTSwift

Rather my teens idolise then than the love island crowd🙄 what a silly ignorant OP

Haha true

YABU. I know someone who was an Olympic gymnast (not team GB). His own country wouldn’t sponsor him and he had to do it all himself. He’s too old to compete now.