Should Olympic Athletes Be Paid More?

[El Bombi]

I remember we had the conversation about how NBA players like Dewayne Wade wanted to get paid for playing in the Olympics.

Now track and field athletes are saying they are underpaid.

Track and field athletes here, abroad unionizing - ESPN

Some of the biggest names in the sport, including Americans Sanya Richards-Ross and Bernard Lagat and Jamaican stars Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake, are part of a movement that gained momentum during the London Games. At the heart of the matter is Rule 40, an International Olympic Committee bylaw that prohibits Olympic participants from advertising for non-Olympic sponsors just before and during the Games.

The rule triggered a heated response from athletes, who took to social media to voice their opposition.

"The whole (#WeDemandChange) Twitter rants has been an internal discussion we've had for years," Richards-Ross told ESPN.com on Friday. "A lot of athletes in our sport are severely underpaid, hold two or three jobs just to train and stay in the sport, and what pushed me over the edge to get on board and mobilize was just seeing how much money was generated from the Olympic Games.

"I do relatively well with great sponsors, but for the majority of my peers, that's not the reality and it's disheartening."

 

[Danny Up]

No.

 

[filial_piety]

I don't see it. They don't perform enough to earn the type of income that the pros get. Usain runs like what twice a year? What's he going to make? A few mill an event

 

[mastermind]

yeah, that rule could cause Michael Phelps to lose some of his medals because he advertised a non olympic sponser watch in a magazine spread.


hell yeah they should get paid, especially since that rule is in place so that the IOC can reap off sponsors.

 

[MegaTronBomb!]

That rule is fukking stupid, but these American nikkas literally have no pride in their country....many of them would represent whatever country gave them the most money

but they should be paying these athletes much more for winning Gold Medals, considering they're the best in the world at what they do...and for all the money they make off them.

 

[AITheAnswerAI]

The only thing I watch in the olympics is the track & field sprints, basketball, and a little gymnastics. The rest of em can go kick rocks. That being said, if the olympics generates a ton of money, the premiere athletes deserve to paid a percentage that reflects such a gross.

 

[Sam Peel]

should greg pop a bytch?

 

[MikelArteta]

olympics is just like the ncaa the ioc makes billions of dollars that they keep to themselves