How much $$$$ does the average US olympic track athlete make per year

This guy trys to take a stab

http://trackandfieldathletesassociation.org/blog/how-much-money-do-track-and-field-athletes-make/

those seem high to me, what do others think

I think you should be asking for the median. The statistical average is skewed due to the very high salaries at the top, and hence becomes meaningless in terms of starting an interesting conversation on this board.

You are only really gonna be able to find the top level. But from experience I can give you a guestimate.

The top short sprinters (top 3 in country per event will be in that 300k plus range with the top one probably being well over that number).

The same thing goes with 1500 and up with the longer the distance (the marathon) making more money. And this gives a trickle down effect so the top 20 or so make more in distance than top 20 in other events. Largely due to it resembling to every day people that go for 'runs' compared to the amount of people that go for a daily sprint or shot put.

Horizontal jumpers: Top guys probably more realistically in 100,000 range. But it is a steep drop off. There are not tactics in most jumps so everyone usually knows who is the best. Not the worlds largest following so if you are not top 3 you are probably not paid. Will Clay and Christian Taylor are probably doing pretty good, but other than that few contracts.

Vertical Jumps: High jump is probably a lot like the horizontal jumps as there are just a select few that get paid. Jessie Williams probably makes enough to be comfortable but everyone else struggles.

Pole Vault: Your top male makes around 100,000 or more depending on how good their agent is. But unless you are consistent top 3 at worlds as an american you are not going to make a living off of it. Women make quite a bit more on average because most are fairly attractive and can get modeling gigs.

Throwers: They get the shaft. USA consistently has the top shot put guys in the nation and they are the worst paid. Christian Taylor said he has worked 3 jobs at once and other guys like Reese Hoffa have said they have lived and trained off of $12,000 from Nike.

Decathlon: Number 1 guy in the world carries a lot of weight and gets a lot of attention and money as the worlds greatest athlete. But they rarely will get money for victories because they only compete like once or twice a year. A guy like Eaton will start to change this as he can compete individually at a lot of Diamond League meets and make money that way in hurdles and long jump.

Throwers do not get money from shoe companies because they can not be put in a magazine wearing trainers during their workouts, because well no thrower cares. It is all about strength and power.

I do think that if the uniform rule was lifted throwers would be one of the highest paid groups.

Just imagine how much money they could get from companies like Muscle Milk or Myoplex or GoldsGym. Or just any weight lifting company or supplement (that is legal). There is a crap load of money in that, and having your name on one of the best throwers in the world would be good press.

Here on planet earth, these athletes earn a fraction of the numbers you mention.Bolt makes 80% of all money paid to athletes. That gives you an idea of how little $ there really is in the sport.Pay a pole-vaulter $100k? Are you kidding me? Why TF would anybody write a check for that amount? What do you get in return?You cannot realistically even be suggesting that the bronze medal in the LJ gets $100k. I really doubt that.

troofiness wrote:

Here on planet earth, these athletes earn a fraction of the numbers you mention.

Bolt makes 80% of all money paid to athletes. That gives you an idea of how little $ there really is in the sport.

Pay a pole-vaulter $100k? Are you kidding me? Why TF would anybody write a check for that amount? What do you get in return?

You cannot realistically even be suggesting that the bronze medal in the LJ gets $100k. I really doubt that.

Pole vault has a special following outside of track and field. So some athletes get more money for that reason alone. There are street vaults, beach vaults, pole vault festivals, and there is even a pole vault magazine out now. Then Nike has been pretty good to some of the guys like Brad Walker. But at the top they get prize money for doing good and bonuses and travel expenses and all.

The women of the sport, not always Americans, do good as stated earlier. The world record holder Yelena Isinbayeva signed a five year contract for 7.5 million USD from Li-Ning. And since Li-Ning is also the sponsor of Christian Taylor who is the most dominate triple jumper in the world I think it is safe to say they would be putting out close to 100k.

Here is the Diamond League prize money break down. 10,000 for 1st ain't too shabby. There are 14 diamond league meets this year.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/sports/2011-05/05/c_13859838.htm

This is the prize money from the 2011 World Champs

Individual  - 1st 60,000; 2nd 30,000; 3rd 20,000; 4th 15,000; 5th 10,000; 6th 6000; 7th 5000; 8th 4000

Relays (per team) - 1st 80,000; 2nd 40,000; 3rd 20,000; 4th 16,000; 5th 12,000; 6th 8000; 7th 6000; 8th 4000.

So there is potential for track field athletes to make a lot of money, but you have to be top 5 in the world for some of the "less popular" events. If you are a non African distance runner who has run an Olympic A standard, then you won't have to worry about sponsorship and money.

I don't know all the events but for the ones I do know this is right on. Maybe even a little low when all sources of income are added in. (If we're talking Olympians as the OP stated.)

How much $$$$ does the average US olympic track athlete make?

are we talking US or World?

World...possibly. US? no...

This is why we need big logos on uniforms so every event can target their own group

Sprints and Distance:

Shoe Companies

Training Equipment

Enduranceaid

Orthotics

Asperncream

Throwers:

GNC

Vitamin Shop

Muscle Milk

Golds Gym

Planet Fitness

Any substances not containing banned substance

Power lifting equipment companies

Pole Vaulters/Jumpers:

Red Bull

Monster

US Air Force

RockStar

Just your typical sponsors

of extreme sports

Chiropractors..

Dr.Know wrote:

I think you should be asking for the median. The statistical average is skewed due to the very high salaries at the top, and hence becomes meaningless in terms of starting an interesting conversation on this board.

The question is not what is the average salary of USA"S Olympic athletes. It asks what does the average US Olympic athlete make. Method: identify an average USA Olympic athlete then examine their paystub.

But the going rate according to most news teams was that.

In an average event, any sport. The athletes ranked 5-10th made less than 15,000 a year.

what would a justin gatlin make? he just got bronze in one of the premier events, but he is a 2 time convicted drug cheat, and i have not heard anyone who believes he is clean now.

should be fun wrote:

But the going rate according to most news teams was that.

In an average event, any sport. The athletes ranked 5-10th made less than 15,000 a year.

In running events for track and field it is triple that at least. Road runners 10x that.

oh no it's "LOLO ALL DAY" DAY ON NBC.

Enough LOLO.

Wow, this is way off. Brad hasn't made close to 6 figures in years, if ever. His contract is mostly performance based and he hasn't done anything outside of Chula Vista in several years (until this year), so his world rankings have been super low and he hasn't been getting prize money. If he gets gold maybe he can turn that around.

None of the other US guys make more than tiny amounts. Their Nike contracts are mostly gear and performance bonuses. They're all working other jobs or are supported by spouses/parents.

As far as female vaulters, it's basically the same thing. Jenn has probably done a little better than Brad, but her string of injuries has really hurt her earning power over the years, luckily a few good performances here and there have kept her world rankings up. I doubt she made anywhere near 6 figures the past few years, though hopefully that changes now that she won gold!

None of the other US girls are making anything substantial. Isinbayeva is like Usain Bolt, except in sprinting, the next few guys down the line are making big bucks too... not so in the pole vault. No one is getting rich but Isi.

As far as US street vaults, most have prize money of $500 or less for first, and little to no travel assistance. The number of money meets in Europe is dropping and the street vaults there are pretty packed, tough for the Americans to even get in let alone win big bucks... and most of them aren't big bucks either.

Nike hasn't signed a good contract with a US vaulter since Tommy Skipper. I don't think any vaulters anywhere are getting appearance fees except maybe Isi... maybe.

Bump.

MatthewXCountry wrote::

This guy trys to take a stab

http://trackandfieldathletesassociation.org/blog/how-much-money-do-track-and-field-athletes-make/

those seem high to me, what do others think

This is the updated version that you want to look at:

Obviously, the athletes that make the most money from sponsors are sprinters and hurdlers, and only a couple of distance people make much from sponsors (which is why people go to the marathon). I know of some 10.20-10.30 range sprinters that have gone to Europe to race and found that the whole trip--including race earnings--ended up losing money for them.

The vast majority make less than $15000 from their "profession" (actually hobby, and they have jobs).

Consider Brittney Reese....

6 gold medals

American Record in long jump

NO sponsors.

Yes the events that don't have glamour you need to become a legend like Bubka or Isa to get low 7 figure endorsement money, otherwise it's subsistence money at best.