Should Olympics Athletes be paid? Sanya Richards-Ross Think They Should !!!

American quarter-miler Sanya Richards-Ross has started a social media campaign against non-payment of athletes at the Olympic Games, blasting organisers for ignoring the financial plight of the majority of track and field athletes across the world.


According to Richards Ross as posted on twitter "With $6 billion exchanging hands during the Olympics, why do athletes compete for free?!"

Richards-Ross goes on further to say:

"Speaking up on this issue is so worth it when my teammates come up to me and tell me their stories and how much it means to them," Richards later tweeted.

"Just because you don't see their faces and hear their stories doesn't mean they don't exist! This is their livelihood."


Is is practical to pay 10,000 athletes? And if so, how much will you pay? And will the more high profile athletes in the more high profile events get more?

Do athletes get paid for attending any of the championship events? I'd be surprised if they do.

The Olympics, Worlds and regional championship events are the 'shop window' for track and field athletes, swimmers, track cyclists, gymnasts etc, and go a long way to setting their commercial value to event promoters beyond the championships. As such, I don't see why the athletes should be paid any more than their expenses for these events.

It would also be incredibly difficult to create a fair pay structure for an event like the Olympics. Consider the difference in wealth between NBA stars, footballers and tennis players at one extreme and the true amateurs (wrestling, boxing) at the other - track and field would be in the middle to high earning part of the scale.

Dont they get prize money at the worlds now, which is fair enough ? I suppose thats the point she is making, personally I dont agree it should extend to the Olympics though.

No official prize-money for the Olympics, although most countries give a bonus for bringing home medals.

(Before the 'tax payer's money' howlers have a fit about it, GB is the only major nation in the world not to give any financial reward for winning a medal.)

I think at the IAAF WC they get $100,000 USD for winning and a further bonus for a WR.

I think it is fair comment from Sanya Richards-Ross. The Olympics is an orgy of money making activities, that includes Beach Volleyballs, Basketball dreamteams, footballs, tennis.

There is an army of sponsorship police to ensure only sponsored products are on sale in and around Olympic venues and only branded products on the sponsor list are allowed into these venues.

Anyone caught eating English Chips will be rounded up and shot:
"Because of an exclusive sponsorship deal with McDonald's, none of the other 800 food retailers on the grounds of 40 Olympic sites will be allowed to sell "chips or french fries" during the fortnight of the Games. It's part of a contract with the American fast-food giant that gives it exclusivity in the market."
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/olympics-fourth-place-medal/mcdonald-banned-other-french-fries-olympics-153018031--oly.html
Talk about Olympic legacy - fast food fattened kids.

Just one other example of the fiction of the "free" market.