Topic: Olympic Games. Paris Olympics medallists Jack Laugher left and Alysha Newman right have been using OnlyFans to help fund their Olympic dreams, something Matthew Mitcham centre says is turning athletes into entrepreneurs. Getty Images. Dire financial straits are leading droves of Olympic athletes to sell images of their bodies to subscribers on OnlyFans — known for sexually explicit content — to sustain their dreams of gold at the Games.
As they struggle to make ends meet, a spotlight is being cast on an Olympics funding system that watchdog groups condemn as "broken," claiming most athletes "can barely pay their rent". The Olympics, the world's biggest sporting stage, bring in billions of dollars in TV rights, ticket sales and sponsorship, but most athletes must fend for themselves financially. When asked about athletes turning to OnlyFans, IOC spokesman Mark Adams said, "I would assume that athletes, like all citizens, are allowed to do what they can.
Getty Images: Pascal Le Segretain. Watching his sponsorships dry up and facing mounting costs, Team GB's Jack Laugher was among the pantheon of Olympic athletes using the often-controversial platform to get to the Games — or simply survive. After medalling at the Tokyo Olympics in , Laugher, who scored another bronze in Paris last week for Great Britain, said he was waiting for funding that never materialised.
Multiple current and former Olympians were asked about the situation, painting a sobering portrait of what they had to do — and bare — to get to Paris. Unable to secure traditional sponsorships, Mitcham began posting photos on OnlyFans, including semi-frontal nudes, earning triple the amount he received as a top athlete. It's a privilege to see a body that has six hours of work every day, six days a week put into it to make it Adonis-like," said Mitcham, who describes himself as a "sex worker-lite".
Matthew Mitcham won gold for Australia in at the Beijing Olympics. He said OnlyFans was a way to make money of a body that he trained hard for. Getty Images: Jamie Squire. Manson, meanwhile, credited OnlyFans with boosting his athletic performance, saying his content included "thirst traps," but nothing pornographic. I keep it artistic, I have fun with it and try not to take myself too seriously," he said. While some athletes say they don't see what they're doing as sex work, German diver Barthel put it frankly: "In sport, you wear nothing but a Speedo, so you're close to being naked.
