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Olympians turn to OnlyFans to fund dreams due to 'broken' finance system (2024)

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Re: Olympians turn to OnlyFans to fund dreams due to 'broken' finance system (2024)

#291

Post by Almondsetat »

Frieren wrote: post #244
jalapenos wrote: post #115

System working as designed? Like, if your hobby is throwing a disc as far as you can, have fun. But don't expect many people to pay to watch right? But people pay a whole lot to see nice bodies doing sexual stuff. So since money comes from what other people value, no need for a surprised Pikachu face.

> if your hobby "Olympians" representing their countries. - Is your hobby "to create software"? Then you should not be paid for it. - Do you like to help peolpe? Then you should not be paid for being a doctor. - etc. Who should earn all the money then? The owners of the TV stations, the owners of the hospitals, basically the people that does nothing and just own things. What a dystopia of a world are we creating.

Ok then why don't they get paid a living wage by the countries they are representing? Wouldn't representing a country be a government job?

Otherwise they are private workers/entrepreneurs and as such should be paid by what their customers feel like they're worth. Creating software can be an unpaid hobby, a government job, a private job, or a personal business.

Re: Olympians turn to OnlyFans to fund dreams due to 'broken' finance system (2024)

#292

Post by mvc »

chrisandchris wrote: post #171
a2tech wrote: post #14

This is the reality of building your life around sport—-there’s basically no money in it unless you’re on the extreme edge. I wish people would stop dumping their entire life’s energy into chasing it—-do something more useful like stamping parts out in a factory. Olympic athletes are stunningly focused achievers—I’d love to see that energy and drive applied to something that mattered.

What a depressing comment. > I'd love to see that energy and drive [...] I'm a former professional athlete in a marginalized sports. Sadly never made it to Olympia. I learned that energy and drive by doing my sport, and I wasn't "born" with it (well, maybe with the genes, but it's something one has to learn IMHO). I think I am now what I am thanks to doing sports for more than 5 year as my main activity (in terms of…

In all seriousness, "thankyou for your service".

I'm an absolute middling athlete. In my 40s. Half a life spent at a desk. And then I picked up a bit of running/cycling as one does. And joined a local club, and became absolutely inspired by the people of all ages at the club entering competitions, doing big feats of endurance. Just for the love of the sport, or the thrill of achieving something difficult.

I'm still a middling athlete but now one that makes sure to fit in a bit of exercise each week and continues to make solid progress. So even if you haven't won any medals, you've likely inspired someone into making changes for the better.

Re: Olympians turn to OnlyFans to fund dreams due to 'broken' finance system (2024)

#293

Post by The_Colonel »

baq wrote: post #252
WalterBright wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The kids have parents who are empowered to make those decisions for them, for exactly the reason you suggest. Of course, some parents make poor decisions - but it's a free country, but not free from the consequences of bad decisions. Or do you suggest someone else make those decisions for the kids?

I don’t have a solution for those kids but I know telling them they shouldn’t have chosen to be athletes is missing the point you yourself bring up - which is, their parents made those decisions for them. Humans are not rational economic actors.

> I know telling them they shouldn’t have chosen to be athletes is missing the point you yourself bring up

They can't alter the past, but they can cut their losses now.

It will also hopefully help the next generation of potentially professional athletes.

Re: Olympians turn to OnlyFans to fund dreams due to 'broken' finance system (2024)

#294

Post by vasac »

ToucanLoucan wrote: post #123
snowwrestler wrote: post #27

In the early 1990s a paddler named Eric Jackson was fast enough to make the U.S. Olympic team in whitewater slalom kayak. But he lacked funds to go. So he dressed up in his full paddling outfit and brought his boat (4m long in those days) and paddle to a street corner in downtown DC. He set up a “meet an Olympian” sign and charged people cash to have their picture taken with him. Much hustle, very entrepreneurial of…

"You're on the team, but you have to fund your own trip to the Olympics to compete." ... "No not like that!" Never knew if it was real but I've seen on reddit several times that letter someone got from their employer chastising them for not owning a newer, nicer vehicle, since they were making good money at their job and it was "hurting the reputation of the business" that they were driving effectively a poor person'…

I remember reading, in the late '80s, a series of interviews with famous programmers in a Yugoslav computer magazine (I think it was 'Računari' - those were translations from some U.S. magazine). In one of the interviews, a programmer (whose name, for the life of me, I can’t recall or find on the internet) mentioned that his boss was embarrassed because he drove an old clunker to meet clients. His boss pressured him to buy something more suitable. So, this guy (the legend I guess) ends up buying an old Rolls Royce to ensure his boss couldn’t complain anymore, all while still not doing what was actually expected of him :)

Re: Olympians turn to OnlyFans to fund dreams due to 'broken' finance system (2024)

#295

Post by shakna »

snowwrestler wrote: post #27

In the early 1990s a paddler named Eric Jackson was fast enough to make the U.S. Olympic team in whitewater slalom kayak. But he lacked funds to go. So he dressed up in his full paddling outfit and brought his boat (4m long in those days) and paddle to a street corner in downtown DC. He set up a “meet an Olympian” sign and charged people cash to have their picture taken with him. Much hustle, very entrepreneurial of…

I can't actually find anything on that story. Any chance you have anything?

He does describe building his own kayak for the event. [0] But that's probably just to help promote his business.

[0] https://hub.jacksonkayak.com/2019/11/the-unabridged-history-...

Re: Olympians turn to OnlyFans to fund dreams due to 'broken' finance system (2024)

#296

Post by timeon »

onion2k wrote: post #270
dod9er wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First quote from Google-Search: "The International Olympic Committee (IOC) generated US$902 million in revenue for the 2023 financial year."

That's less to do with people paying to watch someone throw a disc as far as they can, and more to do with corporations understanding that putting the Olympic logo on a shirt increases sales.

Logo would not exist if there were no athletes.

Re: Olympians turn to OnlyFans to fund dreams due to 'broken' finance system (2024)

#297

Post by xuhu »

azalemeth wrote: post #272
rob74 wrote: post #259

> "Some people are judgy about sex work. People say it's a shame or even that it is shameful," Mitcham said. "But what I do is a very light version of sex work, like the low-fat version of mayonnaise selling the sizzle rather than the steak." Hm, so which one is it now? If you're arguing that sex work shouldn't be stigmatized, it shouldn't matter how light or heavy it is?

I don't think there's much hypocrisy in that statement. My interpretation would be something like this: -- I don't personally think that sex work should be stigmatised -- Other people do stigmatise it, however. -- I would like to point out to these people that what I do is analogous to a light version of sex work [and arguably any professional sportsperson sells their body one way or another - so why not this?]

(flashbacks of reading comprehension exams intensify)

He doesn't seem to state his position on whether proper sex work should be stigmatized or not, just that others think it should be.

Re: Olympians turn to OnlyFans to fund dreams due to 'broken' finance system (2024)

#298

Post by timeon »

teractiveodular wrote: post #246
Frieren wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if your hobby "Olympians" representing their countries. - Is your hobby "to create software"? Then you should not be paid for it. - Do you like to help peolpe? Then you should not be paid for being a doctor. - etc. Who should earn all the money then? The owners of the TV stations, the owners of the hospitals, basically the people that does nothing and just own things. What a dystopia of a world are we creating.

Creating software is an economically profitable activity that many people are willing to pay top dollar for. Throwing a disc really far by hand, not so much. That said, the "hobby" angle is irrelevant here. As the article points out, the IOC makes an absolute fuckton of money from Olympic broadcast rights and sponsors, essentially none of which flows back to the actual athletes.

However end result is often the same.

Re: Olympians turn to OnlyFans to fund dreams due to 'broken' finance system (2024)

#299

Post by shakna »

echoangle wrote: post #285
graemep wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What looks stupid and cool is purely subjective. Fencing is hard to follow because its fast and movements are subtle. > If someone wants to spend their time seeing how far they can throw a stick, cool, but they shouldn't be surprised they're waking up to an empty bank account every day. But if someone wants to see how well they can kick a ball its somehow worth paying them? The biggest factor here is that team sports…

The criterium is "does it bring viewers" though, which is mostly objective. That a lot of people watch football games on TV and not a lot of people watch fencing is something that can be measured.

Many sports have lost and struggled to get an audience again, before suddenly booming. Like cricket in Australia going downhill, and then Big Bash and women's leagues reigniting.

What brings in viewers isn't a predictable measure of much. Like the weather forecast, you're not going to have much more than vague generalisations each season - and they can turn out very wrong.

Re: Olympians turn to OnlyFans to fund dreams due to 'broken' finance system (2024)

#300

Post by timeon »

AngryData wrote: post #79
a2tech wrote: post #14

This is the reality of building your life around sport—-there’s basically no money in it unless you’re on the extreme edge. I wish people would stop dumping their entire life’s energy into chasing it—-do something more useful like stamping parts out in a factory. Olympic athletes are stunningly focused achievers—I’d love to see that energy and drive applied to something that mattered.

Define "something that mattered", because over half the stuff posted on hackernews is a complete waste of time and effort if your only real metric is profitability. The vast majority of "hacking" in general is of negative financial value.

> "something that mattered"

Like decreasing quality of life for everybody through ad-tech.

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