Dire financial straits are leading droves of Olympic athletes to sell images of their bodies to subscribers on OnlyFans — known for sexually explicit content — to sustain their dreams of gold at the Games.

Dire financial straits are leading droves of Olympic athletes to sell images of their bodies to subscribers on OnlyFans — known for sexually explicit content — to sustain their dreams of gold at the Games. As they struggle to make ends meet, a spotlight is being cast on an Olympics funding system that watchdog groups condemn as “broken,” claiming most athletes “can barely pay their rent.”

The Olympics, the world’s biggest sporting stage, bring in billions of dollars in TV rights, ticket sales and sponsorship, but most athletes must fend for themselves financially.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) did not express concern about the situation. When asked by The Associated Press about athletes turning to OnlyFans, IOC spokesman Mark Adams said, “I would assume that athletes, like all citizens, are allowed to do what they can.”

Watching his sponsorships dry up and facing mounting costs, Jack Laugher was among the pantheon of Olympic athletes using the often-controversial platform to get to the Games — or simply survive.

  • LustyArgonian@lemmy.worldEnglish
    206·
    3 months ago

    I think people are forgetting something, which is that younger people like clout. OnlyFans isn’t really that taboo for a lot of younger people. It’s associated with being hot and making money. A lot of Olympians probably WANTED their OnlyFans to pop off because they thought it was cool. And they don’t have to show full nudes or sex, many just post in swimsuits, softcore porn, or tasteful covered nudes. Being “forced” to do OnlyFans is a bit of a stretch for some athletes, but I agree that the games in general are exploiting the athletes. I think the games themselves could be considered a type of sex work, though.

    While some athletes say they don’t see what they’re doing as sex work, German diver Bartel put it frankly: “In sport, you wear nothing but a Speedo, so you’re close to being naked.”

    “The entire funding model for Olympic sport is broken. The IOC generates now over US$1.7 billion per year and they refuse to pay athletes who attend the Olympics,” said Rob Koehler, Global Athlete’s director general.

    He criticized the IOC for forcing athletes to sign away their image rights.

    “The majority of athletes can barely pay their rent, yet the IOC, national Olympic committees and national federations that oversee the sport have employees making over six figures. They all are making money off the backs of athletes. In a way, it is akin to modern-day slavery,” Koehler said.

    It is amazing how sex work specifically makes people hate capitalism. People don’t mind a capitalist, but as soon as that capitalist is a pimp or madame, then they can see the immorality

    • Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works
      2·
      3 months ago

      It is amazing how sex work specifically makes people hate capitalism. People don’t mind a capitalist, but as soon as that capitalist is a pimp or madame, then they can see the immorality

      Cause sex work allows social mobility. The feudalistic lords also hated merchants cause they threatened the social hierarchy.

      • LustyArgonian@lemmy.worldEnglish
        11·
        3 months ago

        100%! Sex work is inherently empowering and destroys typical power dynamics in cishet monogamous relationships.

    • thesporkeffect@lemmy.world
      11·
      3 months ago

      You are aggressively missing the point. Don’t you think “the youths” would prefer being able to pay rent over clout? Onlyfans isn’t the problem here, the point is it should be something they have the option to do rather than the only way to afford to compete.