• Football
  • Boxing
  • UFC
  • Home
  • Football
    • England
    • Transfer News
    • Premier League
    • Champions League
    • Lionel Messi
    • Cristiano Ronaldo
    • EA FC 25
    • Wrexham
  • Boxing
    • Tyson Fury
    • Anthony Joshua
    • Oleksandr Usyk
    • Mike Tyson
    • Jake Paul
    • Logan Paul
  • UFC
    • Dana White
    • Conor McGregor
    • Khabib Nurmagomedov
    • Jon Jones
    • Paddy Pimblett
    • Joe Rogan
  • Other Sport
    • Athletics
    • Formula 1
    • MMA
    • Motorsport
    • NBA
    • Darts
    • NFL
    • Snooker
    • Wrestling
    • Tennis
    • Cricket
    • Golf
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • UNILAD
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube
Olympic gold medalist reveals the shocking amount elite swimmers are paid

Home> Other

Published 08:34 31 Jul 2024 GMT+1

Olympic gold medalist reveals the shocking amount elite swimmers are paid

The Olympian revealed her yearly income.

Alex Brotherton

Alex Brotherton

An Olympic gold medalist has revealed the surprising salary swimmers are paid.

Swimming is one of the most-watched sports at the Olympic Games, with millions of fans tuning in to watch household names battle it out for gold, silver and bronze medals.

However, that does not mean that swimmers are among the best-paid athletes competing at the 2024 Paris Games - far from it.

Advert

While appearing on the Australian version of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here in 2022, Australian swimmer Emily Seebohm lifted the lid on the salary she earned.

The four-time Olympian did not make the Australian team for the 2024 Games in Paris, but even if she had, she would not have stood to earn much.

The 32-year-old explained that there is a tiering system within Swimming Australia and the top-tiered swimmers only make $30,000 a year.

Advert

"So, our swimming contracts are done every year, and every year you’ve got to re-try and make the top tier," Seebohm explained during the show.

"30 is our biggest contract, $30,000 for the year."

Former NRL star Beau Ryan was left stunned by the revelation.

"You just assume that our Olympic athletes, our national treasures are on huge money," he said.

Advert

"You assume they live in nice homes, drive fast cars and they’re on good money.

"That shocked me. I knew they weren’t paid well, but not at that level. That’s unbelievable."

Australia's 4x100m freestyle relay team pictured after winning the gold medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics -
Getty

Emily went on to reveal that winning an Olympic gold medal, of which she has three, nets her around $20,000.

Advert

Salary, prize money, governing body funding and endorsement deals contribute to a swimmer's income, but Seebohm explained that the later is becoming harder to secure.

"There’s NRL [National Rugby League], which is played weekly, which is way better and they can wear their sponsors whereas we can’t,” she said.

"As swimmers, when we’re on the team, we can't wear a personal sponsor. People don’t want to sponsor us.”

Seebohm was asked if Olympians take "normal jobs on the side" to help support themselves, but she said her focus has to be 100 per cent on swimming.

Advert

"You only get a contract every year, so every year, you’ve gotta remake the team," she explained.

"So you're only on the top for a year and then if you have an off year and you drop to, like, not making the team or you drop to 16th, your funding immediately drops."

"I have to be on the top of my game every time I swim, otherwise I’m not going to make that money. Like, I can’t slack off at all. Ever."

Featured Image Credit: Getty

Topics: Swimming, Olympics

Alex Brotherton
Alex Brotherton

Alex Brotherton is a journalist at SPORTbible. He has previously worked with publications including the Manchester Evening News, GOAL and BBC Sport. He is a football fanatic, but also dabbles in tennis and American football. He can often be found watching dreadful non-league football.

X

@alex_brotherton

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

2 days ago
3 days ago
4 days ago
  • 2 days ago

    Michael Jordan, Cristiano Ronaldo and Tiger Woods in top 20 highest-paid athletes of all-time adjusted for inflation

    Jordan, Ronaldo and Woods all rank highly.

    Other
  • 3 days ago

    Fans are calling knockout in Power Slap tournament 'most brutal ever' as Ronda Rousey left stunned

    The latest edition of Power Slap took place on Friday, with former UFC and WWE star Rousey in attendance.

    Other
  • 3 days ago

    Forgotten British super track cost millions before being abandoned without staging a single race

    The track was to span nearly four kilometres, and its organisers had signed a five-year deal to stage MotoGP races.

    Other
  • 4 days ago

    The 100 best pro athletes of the 21st century named and ranked with No.1 pick very controversial

    Some huge names were included in the Top 100.

    Other
  • The real reason why Olympic swimmers wear two caps in the pool
  • Tom Daley reveals shocking amount Olympic gold medallists earn due to 'tier system'
  • Olympic swimmers must follow incredibly bizarre rule if they break a world record at the Games
  • Olympic champion reveals shocking conditions in Paris athletes' village and claims many competitors have left