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?

Don’t the ones who get paid “a healthy income” get that more through sponsorship deals though rather than by participating in the sport directly?

Whether that is the case or not, I’d prefer my own children (who incidentally aren’t sporty at all) look up to people who work hard at their skills like an athlete does than whoever wins love island. Further more, I don’t watch the olympics really but I think it’s a shame if an entire team has to self fund completely as this makes it more likely to be elitist- the ones who have plenty of money participate but aren’t necessarily the best and the people who can’t afford to do that don’t get a chance. Which probably does happen anyway an awful lot.

@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

You can have disabled family / friends and still be discrimatory.

What made you write this post tonight, OP?

I loathe most sports and don't hero-worship any athletes.
However, at least they are famous for having a talent and dedicating time and effort to develop it, not just famous for being famous (and vapid and pointless like too many celebrities). Plus they don't earn anything like the ball kickers.

YABU

I do think it'd be more entertaining if it was people who had never done the sport.

Or there were random sharks at each event e.g. pole vault, shark underneath waiting to snap you. Hurdles...over sharks. You get the idea.

YABVU. The Austrian cyclist who won today didn’t have a cycling team or any sponsorship- she has a normal job.

I'm not sure on many of your points. But the one that stands out to me is point 5. I agree that many kids from not so privileged backgrounds don't get the opportunity to get ahead as more affluent families do

My dd wanted to join many clubs which I couldn't afford, she's 12 now and her brother has been able to try hand at many of the things she wanted to do when she was young as we're in a much better position now

I got an insight into what training involves chatting to a colleague. She was offered a place on the Olympic rowing squad (some years ago now); they started training 5 years before the relevant Olympics. I think 15 were in the squad, only 8 of whom would have been picked to actually represent the UK. She would have been paid the equivalent of a full time job on NMW, so hardly riches. She actually turned them down as she was offered a very significant (and rare) promotion at the same time. It proved to be the right choice, as a couple of years later she developed cancer; thankfully she's recovered but the treatment would certainly have cost her her place on the squad, which would have meant years of training with nothing to show (and no job or income) at the end of it. There's an awful lot of people who don't quite make it....

Not just "unreasonable" but also a bit "unpleasant".

Most team Gb athletes will receive lottery funding- if it is a funded sport.

Those on the world class programme will be on about 30k, i believe tax free but not sure.

That does not take into account age, results etc, so a 15 year old gymnast living at home will get 30k, same as a 30 year old possibly with family responsibilities etc.

Funding can be a double edged sword though. It can be taken away on a whim, and it can also be used as a hold over athletes to control them.

Do you have the same opinion of the paralympians as well OP?

Answered that earlier

The bank I work for has a scheme whereby we recruit retired sportspeople once they need to retire from their sport. We value what they can teach us in terms of resilience, goal setting, team work, overcoming obstacles etc. We have a mid 30’s, gold Paralympian as part of that scheme, who I’ve had the honour of listening to a number of times, he is inspirational. He must earn around £40-50k, he is by no means rolling in it. Amir Khan decided to turn professional rather than return to the Olympics to try for gold didn’t get? OP you’re absolutely clueless. They may earn well once they’ve won medals, but they categorically are not on football level salaries.

YABU. When DS1 was at school one of his teacher's sons was an Olympian (2008) and he certainly didn't make 'a healthy income' especially if you considered the sheer number of hours he put into training etc. He was a great role model for the students to look up to, like PPs have said, far rather children/teens admire an athlete who has worked hard to get where they are than a reality tv star.

@Floogal

Answered that earlier

Seem to be a little less enthusiatic about your arguement now, OP.....

This post is so full of incorrect assumptions! And please don’t trot out that old chestnut that people who work can’t find the time to include moderate exercise in their lives. Most people who don’t chose not to.

I've worked with athletes in the past and they get paid good until they are no longer needed which is as soon as they reach their 30's but their clubs or sponsors pay them, the national team don't unless they win a gold medal where their country (sports ministers) will hand them a good prize money.

Normally they earn peanuts until they reach their early 20's and earn good until they are no longer needed in the squad. I personally know a few of these athletes very close where one was injured in the knee and had to retire at 25 and a few left at the age of 33 which are now trying to come back to the sport as a trainer or some sort of manager as they don't have a plan B to go to and make money for the rest of their lives.

Only a few athletes will become the poster faces for advertising purposes and will have decent sponsorship but that's about it, then they have a lifetime left after their 30's to live with whatever they have earned or invested in. If I'm honest, I don't admire that sort of lifestyle as they train so hard from a young age and miss out a lot in life, only to make money in their prime time and then get tossed to the side. Some of the athletes I know were also studying part time as they want a second career to fall back to as soon as they retire.

I have a lot of experience behind the scenes of this particular sport in the Olympic games right now and that's from a different country so I can't really comment on Great Britain but I'm assuming it's roughly the same everywhere else. It was very difficult for me to manage these athletes as I worked in the marketing and sponsorship field. The federation wanted to boost its presence to gain more sponsorship to fund the sport (national fed needs money), the athletes hated taking part in any extra activities as they are either training or participating in tournaments and there I was the in-between person trying to keep the relationship sweet and try to get the athletes on board. If they don't participate, slowly they will be eliminated from the national squad where their dreams to compete in the Olympics would be crushed and in order to compete in the olympics in the first place, the athletes must compete in many international tournaments and win their place in their continent. So if you're in the national squad in the European continent, you have Russia, Serbia and many other strong opponents to eliminate before you can take your place on the Olympic stage and there's only 2 tickets to win as a country. If you can't win one of those tickets, then you have to go through all of that for another 4 years and unlucky for you if you have hit your 30s as you won't be on the squad for the next olympics.

The sport I worked in is a very popular team sport across the world but not so popular in the UK but the athletes are very lucky in this sport as the federation does all the funding through sponsorships and grants they get from the Ministry of Sport in my home country unlike most athletes in the olympics right now particularly solo athletes who don't get any help at all from their countries where they have to do all the work themselves to fund their dreams.

There are many athletes out there right now competing in the olympics where their home countries won't even pay the license fee to broadcast their athletes on their national TV's competing for their country even winning medals let alone sending a national press team to cover their own athletes.

I am an Olympic athlete, not in Tokyo though. I was never paid, although I was sponsored, I had to present a receipt for every little bit of spending to then get the money back, I certainly didn't profit. The sponsorship was only for a couple of years out if the years and years I had to put in to get that good. I had to quit my sport because I had to earn some money to live, my parents couldn't afford to support me anymore and it was unfair to ask I had to get on with being an adult and keeping myself and being independent. I am from a working class family in NE England, not rich by anyone's standards. Most people don't understand the dedication and hours needed to train just to even get there in the first place, there are more people competing on a national level than get to be an Olympian. I competed most weekends throughout the year and I had to pay my own travel and accommodation.
I wish I'd been that good at playing a guitar ir something, I'd be rich now! Lol

How very ignorant your post is op.
I too know someone competing in the Olympics, she's made huge sacrifices to get there, she works full time, and receives very little funding at all.
Dh is childhood friends with a top level English footballer, who earns ££££ a week, and admits himself he's over paid for what he does.
In most jobs there's awards or rewards, carers deserve much more pay and respect than they receive, but that's nothing to do with those hard working olympians.

Like others have said, Olympians are inspirational. Unlike the vacuous wannabes putting out ‘content’ on TikTok or appearing on reality shows. Honestly the bar for achievement is getting lower all the time.

Moan, moan, fucking moan.

Very ignorant of you. Can you not imagine the dedication to swim 6 hours a day, or get up to go ice skating at 5 am, or running, and then do a full days work. The dedication it takes and years of hard work, to briefly shine in your sport, and be paid relatively little for it, amazes me. They have my admiration

Completely unreasonable! Only the top athletes who are also marketable make much money.

They are extremely dedicated individuals and achieve amazing feats.

I've not got a problem with them being idolised or seen as role models. There are far worse people my DC could look up to.
Athletics and minority sports get nowhere near the same income as footballers.

Gosh you have a chip OP

Look up to people who are dedicated, focussed, gifted? Nah, let's just idolise z-list celebs falling out of clubs...