I began to earn (a little) money from coaching when i woke up to the fact that too many professional athletes were being coached to ‘win’…
A bit like Steve Redgrave being married to a doctor when there was no funding at all for rowing.
He got sponsorship money when he got famous, but until the lottery funding came along, the rowing team either had to work a job alongside their training or they were students or lived off charity at Leander.
ITU triathletes at least have the safety net of Lottery funding to live off, but it’s subsistence and they’re probably putting off a more lucrative career while training as “pro” athletes
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Swimmers don’t even really have that unless they are careful with their extras. I think its 65k total annual earnings and they lose all funding (30k), so earn 36k extras and lose 30k, so many try to make sure they don’t exceed 35k sponsorship / prize money) It was Ben Proud who said with Enhanced Games, his $500k signing on bonus was more than he’d earnt in his career.
At least swimmers have the opportunity to make some money off their sport.
The rowers have no prize money and in the post-Redgrave/Pinsent/Cracknell era I doubt if they have much opportunity for personal or crew sponsorship. They’ve got to live in the Thames valley too to be close to Caversham, so not the cheapest place to live.
can rob a riverside premises and escape by water ![]()
You wouldn’t get much loot in a racing boat
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Dredge the Thames for Sovereigns?