Michelle Jenneke -- Is this what happens when people dare to try to make a living for themselves?

I just hope she works with World Star Hip Hop again.

She's a full time athlete.

Getting endorsements is all well and good but you have to get you priorities right. Seems she chased as many endorsements and got as much publicity as she could and milked them as quickly as she could which hampered her training and caused her to screw up Rio.

If she was more cautious she could have you know focused on hurdling (what a crazy thought) and would still have sponsors and AA funding.

I don't let my hobbies interfere with my job.

She's probably made more money with her sponsorship deals than she would have in the hurdles. The top 5 women are all from the US and it would have been hard for her to ever make the finals. The average contract doesn't have much of a bonus built in for coming 8th in a final. The pay is better from coca cola or her other sponsors.

If she's making a living for herself from endorsements, good for her. Part of what she should be doing with her life is supporting herself.

However, when she can't get out of her heats in the Olympics, why should AA support her when they could give the money to athletes they think have more potential? Athletics is a merit-based activity. If other people have more merit, they should get the support.

doot doot wrote:

I just hope she works with World Star Hip Hop again.

+1

Reminds me of people that pay minimum wage then complain about the quality of workers they get.

$1 Australian =$0.75 US

mediocresprinter wrote:

She's a full time athlete.

Getting endorsements is all well and good but you have to get you priorities right. Seems she chased as many endorsements and got as much publicity as she could and milked them as quickly as she could which hampered her training and caused her to screw up Rio.

If she was more cautious she could have you know focused on hurdling (what a crazy thought) and would still have sponsors and AA funding.

I don't let my hobbies interfere with my job.

One of the points that I'm trying to make is that it's NOT her job. She was given a grant, which likely wasn't enough to put her above minimum wage ($4k-6k every 6 months? -- her Juniors results might have bumped her temporarily but what happens once she can no longer race as a Junior?). Just because she gets SOME money doesn't mean she's earning a living by doing it.

The second point I'm trying to make is that she shouldn't be vilified for trying to make an income. Most T&F athletes in the developed world barely make minimum wage.

The third point I'm trying to make is that it isn't the place of the Australian coach to say this stuff, why kick an athlete while they're down? Is he even involved in her training?

pay for play wrote:

Reminds me of people that pay minimum wage then complain about the quality of workers they get.

Exactly, and it looks like Australian athletes won't even be making minimum wage unless they place in the top 6 in a global championship event.

mamamallala wrote:

If she's making a living for herself from endorsements, good for her. Part of what she should be doing with her life is supporting herself.

However, when she can't get out of her heats in the Olympics, why should AA support her when they could give the money to athletes they think have more potential? Athletics is a merit-based activity. If other people have more merit, they should get the support.

I agree with this comment, although I'm not familiar enough with the situation to know if one the poor recent performances show that she doesn't have the potential to perform well in a global championships event in the future. Either way I felt that the comments by the Australian coach were inappropriate.

If she were working 20 hours a week at Home Depot everyone would say how dedicated she is. She does some photo shoots and public appearances to make some money and she's "unfocused".

Really big deck wrote:

She's probably made more money with her sponsorship deals than she would have in the hurdles. The top 5 women are all from the US and it would have been hard for her to ever make the finals. The average contract doesn't have much of a bonus built in for coming 8th in a final. The pay is better from coca cola or her other sponsors.

/thread

fdvscdsa wrote:

I think that should be up to the athlete to reflect on and not for the head coach of the national team to announce.

and people to blame for his failures.

Mate, you need to do a bit of research. I'm an Australian tax payer and I've also competed at a reasonably high level and had some financial support.

Jenneke milking the public purse to be a show pony, and getting endorsements for herself because of it, is not on. She's getting the taxpayers dough to train and compete at a certain level, if she can't do that then move on and be a show pony elsewhere, the team doesn't want her.

We went through this with Genevieve LaCaze when she was more interested in being a narcissistic show pony and publicity hound like Jenneke and got called out by team members and others. She's now got the message and got her act together and is providing a better return on taxpayers money as witnessed by her results this year.

How much money does she get per month from the Australian taxpayers?

What kind of drugs are the people normally on that she is competing against?

Perhaps the Australian Olympic organization has unrealistic expectations for clean athletes. Maybe they are just full of shit like other organizations.

fred wrote:

How much money does she get per month from the Australian taxpayers?

Dunno Fred. Something like this may help answer:

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ wrote:

fred wrote:

How much money does she get per month from the Australian taxpayers?

Dunno Fred. Something like this may help answer:

http://bfy.tw/88xI

I already did that.

Here's the doping schedule for sprinters.

You guys are just jealous.

"Jenneke, on the other hand, is worth an estimated $3 million, and is the poster girl for Coca Cola’s advertising campaign in Rio. "

She doesn't need the aussie org funding. Bunch of whiners.