For many US athletes, the road to the Olympics is paved with debt

While the members of Team USA get to enjoy their fair share of pride, praise and prestige at this year’s Paris Olympics, it’s a costly journey for many who have to take on substantial debt and finance their own training in pursuit of excellence.

That’s the stark reality offered up by a recent Wall Street Journal article, which profiled multiple Olympian hopefuls who made extreme financial sacrifices to go for the gold.

Among the athletes showcased was Anita Alvarez, a member of the US artistic swimming team, who had to take on multiple jobs to fund her ambitions. Aside from performing routines for weddings and music videos, coaching youth teams, and working at a retail store, she took a $10,000 gig doing underwater stunts in the 2022 film “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”

“There are definitely times when I’m feeling that [financial] pressure, which isn’t great while you’re training at the highest level,” Alvarez told the Journal.

While high-profile athletes like basketball players and gymnast Simone Biles can get big paychecks through endorsements, most athletes face a much more challenging financial journey. A report commissioned by Congress and released in March revealed steep financial hurdles, with 26.5 percent of surveyed athletes reporting individual incomes under $15,000 a year.

Rulon Gardner, known for his gold-medal win in Greco-Roman wrestling in 2000, became a cautionary tale illustrating the challenges for retiring athletes. While his Olympic prize money was enough to clear the $70,000 debt he’d piled up while training, he still had to file for bankruptcy in 2012 after losing investments in real estate and a failed gym venture.

“I put so many travel and training expenses on credit cards,” Gardner said to the Journal. “You’re not thinking about it at the time, but you’re throwing all your eggs in one basket.”

The US Olympic and Paralympic Committee provides financial incentives for medalists, awarding $37,500 for gold, $22,500 for silver, and $15,000 for bronze. But only top-ranked athletes are eligible for additional support, and many must cover their own training and competition expenses. The USOPC distributes nearly $2.5 million annually for education, training, and travel costs, according to the Journal.

Lauryn Williams, a gold-medalist sprinter who later became a financial planner to numerous Team USA athletes, noted that about 20 percent of her clients have incurred debt. Many US Olympians have turned to crowdfunding, reportedly benefiting from more than $2 million in financial support on GoFundMe in the past two years alone.

Even for those who medal, the financial rewards can be meager. A report by Bloomberg highlighted how the US Swim Team’s winning performance at the relay event in Paris, with multiple trips to the podium, earned them a $250,000 performance bonus – divided among 48 members, that’s $5,208 per swimmer.

“It’s not a lot perhaps, but we’re starting,” said Tim Hinchey, CEO of USA Swimming, adding that the team wants to secure more substantial corporate sponsorships. “We have zero government support, and there’s more that we want to do.”

Peter Carlisle, managing director of Olympics and action sports at Octagon, emphasized the need to help America’s flag-carrying athletes with more timely financial aid.

“Athletes should be receiving more financial support at a time when it is most needed, which is before, not after the Games,” Carlisle said.