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The Olympics was intended for amateur athletes, but they're all essentially professionals now if they have any chance of medaling (the Turkish shooter excepted) because they get years of specialized training. And, of course, they find endless new ways to abuse those athletes' bodies by using ever-more sophisticated ways to secretly dope them.
Half of them will be broken by the time they're 30. I'm not at all surprised that this is what they have to resort to.
And the Olympics being for "amateurs" was a deliberate effort by the Olympic committee when the modern games were started to exclude the working classes from competing.
The whole "best of the best" is just branding. The Olympics needs serious reform.
Yeah, by "amateurs" they meant wealthy men who didn't work and so had spare time to get good at sport. Really good Behind the Bastards episodes that touch on this actually.
Behind the Bastards - Part One: How Avery Brundage Gave Hitler an Olympics
Behind the Bastards - Part Two: How Avery Brundage Gave Hitler an Olympics
Hell yeah, another BTB listener? There's dozens of us, dozens!
There's millions who stream or download each episode. It's in the top 200 podcasts by listener, and there is a shitload of podcasts out there.
Do you know why? Because rich people didn't want to compete against the poor. If you couldn't afford to compete, you didn't. The rich can't didn't fancy meeting Gary the local bouncer in a boxing match.
History of Olympics is fucked up.
History of everything is fucked up.
Power, money, and violence are usually how things go, the bubble of "freedom" that has existed for a few hundred years maybe be yielding.
Don't worry, Coca-Cola and the like will continue making buckets of cash from the Olympics.....
Wait non companies need money too?
Maybe the athletes can sell shares of themselves, provide dividends and engage in stock buy-back. /s
Should pay them with the advertising revenue they make possible.
i feel like these athletes need to have a plan B for real jobs.
the olympics have been bastardized into a corporate for-profit orgy. theres no honor in these games. its sad that these humans who feel they are accomplishing something dont see the truth; theyre just tools that can be discarded.
its sad that these humans who feel they are accomplishing something dont see the truth; theyre just tools that can be discarded.
They are accomplishing something. It's just not recognized by the greedy fuckwits exploiting their achievements for profit, other than for it's ability to convince people to endure their bullshit in exchange for the chance to watch them.
Well, the plan is to get corporate sponsors. That’s always been the road.
Edit: always as in the past ~50 years.
If you can imagine the ancient Olympics with all those naked male athletes running and flexing, the sex trade would have been happening back then too.
Lots of consensual sex happens in modern Olympic villages today, because just healthy young people getting together.
I thought the point being made here is that they should be making enough money to not have to resort to Only fans.
What does whether they're getting it on in camp or not have to do with this article?
I think people are forgetting something, which is that younger people like clout. OnlyFans isn't really that taboo for a lot of younger people. It's associated with being hot and making money. A lot of Olympians probably WANTED their OnlyFans to pop off because they thought it was cool. And they don't have to show full nudes or sex, many just post in swimsuits, softcore porn, or tasteful covered nudes. Being "forced" to do OnlyFans is a bit of a stretch for some athletes, but I agree that the games in general are exploiting the athletes. I think the games themselves could be considered a type of sex work, though.
While some athletes say they don’t see what they’re doing as sex work, German diver Bartel put it frankly: “In sport, you wear nothing but a Speedo, so you’re close to being naked.”
“The entire funding model for Olympic sport is broken. The IOC generates now over US$1.7 billion per year and they refuse to pay athletes who attend the Olympics,” said Rob Koehler, Global Athlete’s director general.
He criticized the IOC for forcing athletes to sign away their image rights.
“The majority of athletes can barely pay their rent, yet the IOC, national Olympic committees and national federations that oversee the sport have employees making over six figures. They all are making money off the backs of athletes. In a way, it is akin to modern-day slavery,” Koehler said.
It is amazing how sex work specifically makes people hate capitalism. People don't mind a capitalist, but as soon as that capitalist is a pimp or madame, then they can see the immorality
Wow, what a world where super-hot hard-bodied Olympians have to create OnlyFans pages to make ends meet. I will want to do more research on this.
Does anyone know the specific pages they're talking about? For research.
A lot of people seem to be missing the point.
There is nothing wrong with sex work or having an OnlyFans. There is absolutely a lot wrong with the fact that the top athletes of our world who perform on the top athletic stage of the world are destitute to the point of having to fund themselves this way. Don't get me wrong, I don't believe anyone should have to use this as a last resort either but it's very telling of society as it currently is when these people are having to do so.
Is this different from having to shill your non-nude body on Instagram?
No, but prudes will prude once nudity is involved for cash lol.
They will probably earn more selling nudes than they would as fitness instructors and coaches when they're past competing age too.
It's not a 'broken' system - it's a broken system. You don't need the quotes when it's factual.
Aaaaand we've reached yet another low. I dunno, but this really is a punch in the gut for me.
Countries and cities spend BILLIONS on the stuoid olympics (or footbal world cups), building stadiums that will be abandoned right after the event is over, we ignore slavery and corruption (hello quatar, hello fifa!) and abuses, and the athletes themselves? Nobody gives a shit, go prostitute yourself!
But the Olympics and the world cup are awesome!! /s
And just to clarify: all respect to the athletes, they are awesome but they are participating in abusive events, unfortunately.
Most of the sports in the Olympics aren't really money makers. That's more or less always been the case. Many athletes train while working fulltime. Maybe it's good OF and things like it provide another outlet. Some countries fund their athletes, and others don't. If anyone is upset about people making a fortune off of it, you can always stop supporting it.
People are upset that professional athletes at the world stage, the best of the best, that bring glory and medals to their countries are left to fend for themselves between events.
No different than posing in beefcake physique mags back in the day.
Arent the olympians supposed to be “non professional”? Or maybe it used to be
Hasn’t been that way for 30 odd years. Think of Jordan’s dream team
I think this needs a bit more context. Before "the dream team" the US only sent NCAA basketball players. The same goes with all sports, including hockey. The US's complaint was that other countries were sending their professional players. Cuba's baseball team, the USSR's hockey team, etc. were solely comprised of essentially professional players that did they sport for a living. It was successfully argued that this was an unfair advantage for countries with programs like this.
PS: This is why "The Miracle on Ice", when the US beat the USSR in hockey was such a big deal. The US team was essentially a bunch college kids while the USSR was playing with arguably the best hockey players in the world at the time. It was the equivalent to Puerto Rico beating the original Dream Team in basketball.
When asked by The Associated Press about athletes turning to OnlyFans, IOC spokesman Mark Adams said, “I would assume that athletes, like all citizens, are allowed to do what they can.”
Fark you. (Channeling Joe Pesci): "You only HAVE those billions in ticket sales, sponsorships and TV rights because the athletes make that possible!"
Now we know what all those condoms in the Olympic village are for.
Oh cool, I've actually read this dystopian scifi before.
I mean at the end of the day athletes are entertainers. And just like actors or singers, it doesn't matter if you're very good at what you do if you can't land the paid gigs or sell yourself in some way. And the people making the big money are going to be a small few at the very top.
This is the exact same thing as Superbowl cheerleaders being "paid" with "exposure." What gig can they land that is bigger than The Superbowl? What gig can the literal best athletes in the world land that is bigger than The Olympics? There isn't one. The people running both of those events are stuffing their own pockets and treating the people who do the actual work as slaves.