Relax, I'm a professional.

August 12, 2008 9:50 AM

For which olympic events do US athletes have to get "real" jobs in the off-season?

I know there are professional swimmers, runners, and bikers. But what about minor events, like trap shooting, water polo, volleyball, and fencing? I find it somewhat hard to believe they make enough in the off-season. Are these athletes funded by the government? Does the government support them for four years just so the US can win in the olympics?

posted by metastability to sports, hobbies, & recreation (16 comments total)

Well, technically some of them are funded by the government. At least 1 of the shooters is in the US Army, and I wouldn't be surprised if there were more.
posted by theichibun at 9:59 AM on August 12, 2008

I'm watching men's volleyball right now, and the announcers just talked about this. There are professional volleyball leagues all over the world. Currently the most lucrative league is in Russia. A player will spend about 6 months with his national team (May-November) participating in world competitions. Then he will spend the next 6 months with his club (pro) team.

Most of the softball players play in the National Pro Fastpitch league in the summer, and coach, teach or finish up degrees in the off-season.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 10:02 AM on August 12, 2008

Home Depot. Seriously.
posted by neilkod at 10:02 AM on August 12, 2008 [1 favorite]

Two of the rowers are currently suing Mark Zuckerberg as they claim he stole the idea for Facebook from them.

Here are the bios of the Canadian men's Water Polo team. Most of them are about 20, so every one that I looked at was currently a university student. There are a lot of Olympic athletes that are young enough to still be living at home.

If you check the Canadian Olympic Asscoaition page you can get bios for all of the athletes. I checked the Archery competitors - again, all are 20 or 22 so they're all students.

My guess is that athletes that have a job are the exception and not the rule.
posted by GuyZero at 10:14 AM on August 12, 2008

Most of the American swimmers are still in college, and swim for the top NCAA teams.
posted by smackfu at 10:14 AM on August 12, 2008

Oops, I totally missed the "US" part of your question. My guess that most of the US athletes are also in their early 20's, making them students also.
posted by GuyZero at 10:16 AM on August 12, 2008

NY Times: "Army Sharpshooters Have Olympic Medals in Their Sights"
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 10:21 AM on August 12, 2008

In some sports, the national sports governing board, which is usually a nonprofit, supports athletes (in fact, this is where a lot of swimmers get at least part of their money). In some sports, the athletes are in college on scholarship and thus have their training free, as long as they compete for their schools and attend classes. (Again, this is how a lot of the swimmers train too: only a few swimmers make enough in endorsements to be totally pro.)

I know that most water polo players play league in Europe once they are out of school. But no, the US government doesn't fund sports training in any organized way.
posted by dame at 10:26 AM on August 12, 2008

Alaskan Corey Cogdell, the bronze winner of trap shooting, relied on fundraisers and silent auctions to help her get to Beijing.
posted by jaimev at 10:27 AM on August 12, 2008

Most of the American swimmers are still in college, and swim for the top NCAA teams.

This is becoming less and less true as more swimmers pick up sponsorship and USA Swimming pays out more bonuses (you get money for breaking a world record, for world placement, etc.). Many of the men swimming for the US this year are post-college. However, interestingly, a bunch of non-American swimmers also are in the same boat--they get scholarships to swim in the states.


posted by dame at 10:29 AM on August 12, 2008

Our third NY Times reference for the thread is this:

Historically, the economics of swimming have also contributed to the preponderance of young champions. Little sponsorship money existed for swimmers until about 10 years ago, which tended to mean that once a swimmer graduated from college, the gig was up — it was time to get a job. But now Speedo and TYR, among other companies in the swimming business, make it possible for elite American swimmers to train full time and continue to be competitive well into their 20s and 30s. [...] Economists who study sports, like Raymond Sauer at Clemson University, note that if athletes are economically motivated enough — if, says Sauer, they have "low wealth and poor income-earning alternatives"— they can stay in sports until a quite advanced age.
posted by Mike1024 at 11:11 AM on August 12, 2008

Many judo players hold down regular jobs. I was lucky enough to train with Brian Olson for a year in Boulder, Colorado. I was there from summer 2004-2005, and when I moved there Brian was in Athens. Upon returning, he picked up a normal job, I think managing a restaurant. He had, I think, just retired from competition, but was still coaching. (The retirement from competition didn't last, obviously, since he is in Beijing.)

In the run up to the games, however, Judo athletes train pretty much full time. The training regime is pretty brutal, and between conditioning and sparring (often two sessions a day), it takes a pretty heavy toll on the body. So even if there was enough free time in the day to work a 9-5, that time is usually spent resting and recovering from the beating the athletes take. I don't know what the story is for other sports, but judo, in my opinion, is particularly hard on the body. Not that swimming, or sprinting is easy, but most judoka do a hard conditioning session and a hard sparring session daily. During the hard sparring session, you basically get kicked, elbowed, thrown, and landed on, for an hour. When I was training judo and and Brazilian Jiu-jitsu 6 times a week, my arms ached from fingers to shoulders by Thursday. It's a really tough sport.
posted by HighTechUnderpants at 11:50 AM on August 12, 2008

For fencing (because you mention it), typically there isn't an 'off season' really. Since fencing has such a low profile in North America funding is hard to come by. All of the athletes I know (some olympic hopefuls) work at least part time, and have to make decisions about which tournaments they must and can afford to travel to. Integrating work and training schedules is very difficult. These people work very very hard to support their dream.

For example, Canadian fencer Sherraine Schalm is an elementary school teacher. She is also currently ranked #5 in the world.
posted by billy_the_punk at 1:50 PM on August 12, 2008

UPS - the brown delivery trucks - had (or has) an "Athlete Training Assistance Program" for their 'employee athletes'.
posted by milkrate at 2:03 PM on August 12, 2008

Most - if not all - of the cyclists are professional bike racers: Levi Leipheimer, Dave Zabriskie, George Hincappie, Kristen Armstrong, etc. Road racers, trackies and BMX.
posted by fixedgear at 2:05 PM on August 12, 2008

Ooops, sorry.
posted by fixedgear at 2:05 PM on August 12, 2008