Germany's Timo Barthel competes in the men's 10m platform diving preliminary, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, in Paris, on Aug. 9.athletes to sell images of their bodies to subscribers on OnlyFans – known for sexually explicit content – to sustain their dreams of gold at the Games. As they struggle to make ends meet, a spotlight is being cast on an Olympics funding system that watchdog groups condemn as “broken,” claiming most athletes “can barely pay their rent.
After medalling at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Laugher, who scored another bronze in Paris last week for the U.K., said he was waiting for funding that never materialized. His account, costing $10 a month for a subscription, says he posts “SFW content in Speedos, briefs, boxers.” A recent post from the Olympics got more than 1,400 likes.
Unable to secure traditional sponsorships, Mitcham began posting photos on OnlyFans, including semi-frontal nudes, earning triple the amount he received as a top athlete. 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.”
These can include coaching, physical therapy and equipment, at a cost of thousands of dollars a month, as well as basic living expenses. Some delegations fund training, with the athletes covering medical bills and daily expenses. In other delegations, athletes pay for everything themselves. “I never loved how amateur athletes can never make a lot of money,” she said. “This is where my entrepreneurial skills came in.”