More and more Olympians are earning money online with their erotic photos 0 10

One of these athletes is German Olympic bobsleigh champion Lisa Buchwitz. In several interviews, she emphasized that subscribing to an adult content platform helps finance her career and the career of her entire team.

Supporting a career through the display of the naked body is becoming an increasingly common trend among both summer and winter Olympic athletes. The reason is simple — government funding and competition earnings in most Olympic disciplines are insufficient to pursue sports alone.

Leading American sports media ESPN has gathered a wide range of professions that can be found among the members of this year's U.S. Olympic team. For example, skier Paula Molkan, who won a bronze medal as part of the U.S. team in Milan-Cortina, works as a rowing instructor alongside her sports career.

In Latvia, the financial support for athletes is at a solid level compared to other countries. Those who combine sports with paid work, both in winter and summer teams, are more of an exception. As are those who earn money through "exposure." One such athlete is canoeist Kurts Adams Rozentals, who became the vice-world champion in the under-23 age group in 2023. He previously represented Great Britain but was excluded from the British team for posting inappropriate video content on Instagram. In the future, he plans to represent his homeland Latvia, which is also confirmed by the Latvian Canoe Federation.

"After I started OnlyFans, my friends were completely against what I was doing, but at the same time, they understood me. In a way, they said, 'I would never do anything like that,' but I understand why I did it," Kurts Rozentals told Latvian television in an interview.

He recalls how on the very first day he earned £2,000 on the platform, or over €2,000. His previous salary from the British Olympic Committee was £1,500 per month, or €1,715. The cost of living in the UK made it impossible to make ends meet, so he found part-time work, but it interfered with his career as a professional athlete. "Posting content on OnlyFans was plan Z, not plan B. If nothing else worked, then... I knew what OnlyFans was," admitted the canoeist.

Global Athlete CEO Robert Keller says that most athletes live below the poverty line and financially depend on their parents until they reach adulthood.

A 2020 Global Athlete study, the results of which were not disputed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), shows that only half a percent of the billions in revenue generated by the IOC goes directly to athletes.

"You know, it’s funny that there isn’t a single employee in the Latvian Olympic Committee who works for free. There isn’t a single such worker in the IOC either. However, when athletes participate in the Olympics, who essentially facilitate the event, the committee does not compensate them for their labor! It’s a loophole… It’s a terrible slogan, but we say it’s a sign of 'modern slavery,'" says Robert Keller.

The Global Athlete CEO sees no reason why all athletes participating in the Olympics could not receive compensation in the tens of thousands of dollars. In his opinion, at least half of all revenue from the Olympics should go to athletes, who are the main asset of the Olympic Games. Instead, the money is currently spent on various controversial programs aimed at strengthening Olympic values.

"The money that the Olympic movement spends on what is called 'Olympic values' is simply unacceptable! Funding is put into programs that support 'Olympic values,' and I’m not sure what that is.

If you watched the recent games, where leading Ukrainian athlete Vladislav Geraskevich was disqualified for mentioning people he knew personally who died in the war — that was a very special moment! But instead, they disqualified the athlete. I don’t know if that’s the 'Olympic values' I stand for," expresses his outrage Robert Keller.

President of the Latvian Canoe Federation Lelde Laure stated that no information about the disqualification of Kurts Adams Rozentals had been received from Great Britain.

British public media BBC reported that Rozentals posted a video on Instagram showing him having sex with a woman.

Rozentals himself denies this in an interview with Latvian television, stating that there was no sexual act and that the woman in the video is not visible, but admits that the video was intended for a platform focused on adult content.