Why would established stars run the OLYMPIC Marathon?

History will leave you a legacy as an Olympic champion in the marathon that no number of big paydays at Chicago or Berlin will. And as an Olympic medallist you'll easily make up the money "lost" by skipping one of those paydays later on.

Desi and Shalane already have Multiple time Olympian on their resume and have won either NY or Boston. They have no chance of winning an Olympic Medal and will be lucky to make the team at this stage in their career. Why even attempt? Also NY and Boston will have more money as most Americans will be skipping those races.

They probably get sponsorship money for racing and placing well in the Olympics, no?

Appearance dollars of ONE MARATHON either New York City or Boston will pay them more than their annual salary from their sponsor.

No risk involved in appearance dollars.

Huge risk in the Trials even greater risk for the Oly Games.

I'd happily trade financial well-being for an Olympic medal.

BUT...its not a trade that needs to be made. Winning a medal gets bonuses from sponsors. Increases appearance fees for future races. Add earning potential to writing memoirs (something either woman could write and have a best seller.) Etc etc.

Winning a medal isn't simply winning a medal. It comes with a whole list of earning potential.

There's more to life than accumulating money. Some experiences are priceless. Making the Olympics is the ultimate dream fulfillment for many of us.

HRE wrote:

There's more to life than accumulating money. Some experiences are priceless. Making the Olympics is the ultimate dream fulfillment for many of us.

But we are talking about athletes that have already experienced the Olympics have no chance of medaling and will be racing in 90 degree temps.

Some experiences are so good they're worth repeating if you can.

Shalane is already rich and will get compensated by nike, anyway.

Your point stands much better with desi

Shalane already has an Olympic medal

Who cares if they have few earning potentials left in their career?

They trained and sacrificed years of their life to get to the height of being superstars in the running world. You have to give your all so that you can leave the table - so to speak.

What if?

What if?

What if?!

I bet I could have...

I bet I would have...

I know that I could've...

I don't like living in this kind of universe.

The purpose of wealth, from low to high, goes from survival, to comfort, to being able to do what one wants to do, to being able to control other people. Categorize these as levels of 1 to 4 of personal wealth. If one is already at level 3, and what one wants to do is run an Olympic marathon, it makes sense to choose that goal over potential to acquire more money.

In addition, level 4 money has the potential to allow one to do great good, but so often turns one into a greedy a$$h0le with contempt for ordinary mortals.

HRE got it right on this.

For Shalane and Desi the motivation at the end of their careers is just to be able to say they made ANOTHER Olympic team. The challenge is even more appealing when people start counting them out for being too old. Money is not an issue for either player.

pond scum wrote:

Who cares if they have few earning potentials left in their career?

They trained and sacrificed years of their life to get to the height of being superstars in the running world. You have to give your all so that you can leave the table - so to speak.

What if?

What if?

What if?!

I bet I could have...

I bet I would have...

I know that I could've...

I don't like living in this kind of universe.

Then leave anytime you want, you're pond scum.

Faultie Logic wrote:

Looking at the 2 year out predictions and reading about Brett Larner's run on the Olympic Course today, I wonder why any established runner would want to run the Olympic Marathon? It was 96 degrees and humid today during what would be race time in Tokyo.

Take a look at Shalane and Desi. They have very few earning opportunities left in their career. The trials are in February 2020 which means that they will probably not be able to run NY in 2019 or Boston in 2020 and if they make the team and run in 90 degree temps in August will be too beat up to run 2020 NY. These 2 athletes would earn 25k-50k by running the trials and the Olympic Games and miss out on three pay days of $150k--$200k if they skipped the Olympics. This is a difference in a half a million dollars in appearance money.

First, I don't agree that they won't be able to run NY '19. Even if true, they could easily run Chicago or Berlin and still paid. I agree they will likely have to sit out a spring major in '20. But they could still do a half or something and get a decent payout.

Second, you are just wrong about the prize structure. In the last trials, the top 3 took home 80k, 65k, and 55k. I believe USATF kicked in another $10k for competing in the Olympics, and they could get more from the USOC for winning a medal. Plus, most sponsorship contracts include bonuses for Olympics.

The financials are a lot closer than you think, even before you factor in better endorsement chances for Olympians than pros running majors.

I imagine sponsors want their stars running on the biggest stage, which, especially for American sponsors/athletes, would be the Olympics.

I seriously, seriously doubt these athletes are losing money by going for the Olympic marathon.

Why did Michael, Magic, Larry, and the rest of the Dream Team compete in the Olympics. The Olympics is once every 4 years and an amazing experience. Everything in sports isn't just about money, especially if you're already rich. Sometime the experience/chance is once in a lifetime to be around the greatest athletes in the world, all in one place, hanging out in the Olympic Village, going to opening and closing ceremonies. The Chicago, NY and Boston Marathon can't touch the pageantry or coverage of the Olympics.

I do think that as other poster correctly point out that, that top athletes probably aren't giving up money on the Olympics. The exposure is amazing.

HRE wrote:

History will leave you a legacy as an Olympic champion in the marathon that no number of big paydays at Chicago or Berlin will. And as an Olympic medallist you'll easily make up the money "lost" by skipping one of those paydays later on.

I am not saying you're wrong, but I am curious if there are numbers to back this up?

If you live in a universe (technically, your reality) where you always wonder about what could have been, then you’ll go crazy and always have second thoughts about things, ??