Australia

It makes sense. Throwing a 5kg ball or swimming real fast on your back isn't exactly of value to anyone.

If athletes want more money and are participants in sports that have low interest, they have to first ask where the hell they think that money will come from. I have a friend that competes in long jump on an international level and is also an athletics ambassador. There's no viewership, merchandise, public hype, etc. so there's no income. Dude just holds a good engineering job. Similarly one in triathlon, which he does have some decent prize money and sponsorship as there is much more interest and viewership, but he still works a full-time job and he has to be absolute top of the field to get any reward.

You can't make the public watch things they don't want to. And no one wants to pay for something they're not interested in or want.

I've always considered the pursuit of sport to be something for the elite, much like art, fashion, design, writing etc. You need significant financial support for a long time to really make it fields such as that. Now that may be a generalisation, but it's mostly true I think

I don't think this is limited to Australia.

Poverty is just so hot right now it's catching on everywhere.

I don't agree with people here not caring about this. Why should anyone earn below the poverty line?

If producing value is what gives you the right to live, then why do managers and manager's managers get so highly paid? Does that also mean that artists shouldn't get to live either unless they're doing graphic art for a company?

TBH I don't really care. I don't think "elite athletes" should be getting any government funded pay. Playing sport is a privilege, not a right, and just because you're good at it doesn't mean you should be rich.

If your sport can't afford to pay you lots of money there's a reason for that - the sport doesn't generate a lot of money. It's the same argument with women's sports - they want equal pay but they don't bring in equal revenue, so where exactly is that equal pay supposed to come from? You can't play a female soccer player $30 million a year when the entire league only brings in $10 million revenue in total.

The biggest challenges were costs and financial insecurity, with elite athletes spending more each year on travel and accommodation for competitions than they did on food.

Athletes living below the poverty line have to pay for their travel and accommodation, while our politicians earning up to $600,000 a year get everything for free. Then they piggyback off the success of these athletes and use them to boost their own public image, whilst also failing to provide adequate funding to support the future success of these athletes and the generations to follow. Good shit.

If a country wants to prioritise doing well in the international sports scene, then that country needs to prioritise paying promising athletes to basically train full time to reach their maximum potential. If that country wants this. When the Olympics comes around if a country holds its worth and sense of national pride in being a great sporting nation and bases this on how many gold medals it wins, then it needs to ensure all its competing athletes have their full potential reached. Even stress from working a second job can lower performance. So while there are field adjacent careers these athletes could have like personal trainer, motivational speakers, worrying about income could impact their performance. Yes this does mean priveliged countries that focus and pay for their athletes have a better chance.

Food $200

Data $150

Rent $800

Triple-jumping $3,600

Utility $150

someone who is good at the economy please help me budget this. my family is dying

Yeah, sorry, that's glib of me, but I don't think it's unfair to say that in terms of victims of capitalism, athletes are a fair way down the list.

Champion swimmer Bronte Campbell said the biggest costs she racked up through her career were injury-related, and while injury support was brilliant when it was there, costs soon started to outweigh the support she received.

How is swimming or any other athletic activity a career?

I don’t want my taxes paying for frivolous non-careers. The cleaner and the secretary in my office earn similar amounts, and they’re actually contributing to society. The bloke down the road with his model trains also finds that the costs outweigh the support he receives. I don’t understand how they can seriously complain that they’re not being paid enough to pursue their hobby.

He also encouraged athletes to look for other revenue streams.

Yeah, no shit. I need another job to pay for my hobby too, where’s the problem?

I've always wondered - how does a "professional amateur athlete" manage to earn a living? I've always assumed that they have parents of means that subsidize their passion to allow them to pursue their goals.

As an American I can not conceive of a career path that does not immediately provide fruit for labor - yes, I know this is a stunted view point but it is what I have. I would love to know of another way of following my passions without a viable means of support.

I know that I could absolutely crush a lot of my bucket-list goals if I didn't have to earn along the way.

The comments in here are just sad. Can really tell that the Reddit refugee/Lemmy demographic has never played sports, or were probably bad at them, and thus hold bitterness towards athletes.

It's like the inverse of the popular kids at school moaning about nerds because they failed their math exam lol.

Thats the same in india except make it like 80pc ! If they win a medal they are given a better paying job !