Million-dollar question: Olympic gold's true value

2 months ago 20
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The affectional rewards associated with the honour of representing your state astatine an Olympics are unimaginable. However the caller announcement by athletes specified arsenic Roger Federer, Serena Willaims, Ben Simmons and Nick Kyrgios to officially retreat from the Tokyo Olympics has got maine reasoning astir the imaginable fiscal gains, oregon sacrifices successful Kyrgios' peculiar case.

What is it truly worthy for an jock to be the Olympics? How overmuch does winning a medal alteration their quality to commercialise themselves? And importantly, should nonrecreational sports - specified arsenic soccer, play and tennis that already pull important gross and nett - truly beryllium portion of an Olympic Games?

Nick Kyrgios interacts with the assemblage aft retiring injured against Felix Auger-Aliassime astatine Wimbledon. (Getty)

When I deliberation astir the athletes astir the satellite who person had notable fiscal success, astir ever I tin spot a nonstop nexus betwixt their 'on-field' occurrence and their 'off field' concern acumen.

Take Federer for example. Latest stats amusement helium is ranked the seventh richest jock successful the world. This is contempt being retired of committee for overmuch of past twelvemonth with a genu injury. In fact, 100 per cent of the Fed's $90 cardinal successful net successful the 12 months to May 21 (per Forbes) was from sponsorship deals with brands similar Rolex, Credit Suisse and Uniqlo.

So erstwhile you deliberation astir the nationalist and planetary illustration opportunities that an lawsuit similar the Olympics offers athletes, determination is surely much than a medal and nationalist pridefulness astatine stake.

In fact, erstwhile I deliberation astir Australian athletes who person attended the Olympics oregon won medals, the flow-on impacts to their commercialized occurrence and fiscal heft, oregon their quality to merchantability their idiosyncratic brand, are astronomical.


Kyle Chalmers aft winning golden successful the 100m freestyle astatine the Rio Olympics. (Getty)

Don't get maine wrong, the axenic joyousness of winning a medal aft years of hard enactment and toil is the superior focus. But it would beryllium folly to suggest athletes conscionable similar the contention and don't realise what winning a golden medal could mean commercially for them.

That said, the Olympics don't marque it casual for athletes to commercialise themselves during the Games owed to protecting authoritative Olympic sponsors. They've relaxed immoderate of these rules, but further relaxing would assistance amateur athletes marque fiscal gains from the event, which for astir of them is their cardinal vulnerability play that happens each 4 years (if they're fortunate capable to marque aggregate Olympic Games).

Considering that up until the past fewer decades Olympics were lone unfastened to amateur sports radical - which is wherefore we didn't person a 'Dream Team' until 1992 due to the fact that it was lone assemblage hoops players until that constituent - this past truly begs the question of wherefore nonrecreational sports are portion of the Olympics?

Do we privation to spot the champion of the champion oregon the champion of the rest; the non-professionals? Should we beryllium reserving this vulnerability accidental for athletes who unrecorded for this accidental arsenic their halfway event? Also, wherever does the enactment get drawn? Field hockey players play professionally successful Europe connected a humble income - should they beryllium allowed to compete?

It's complicated, but I wonderment why, aft each this waiting for the Games to really happen, we are each fto down erstwhile 'big name' athletes propulsion retired connected the eve of the Games. And should they adjacent beryllium considered?

** Matthew Pavlich is simply a Nine sports presenter and co-founder of Pickstar

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