Athletes such as Shaun White, Simone Biles, Lindsey Vonn, and others have earned millions throughout their illustrious careers. From starring in films and documentaries, they are no less than celebrities, gleaming like talismans to the world. However, not every athlete from the 32 sports included in Paris 2024 will find such fame and financial success even after winning an Olympic medal.

Not all sports share the same popularity as swimming, gymnastics, track and field, soccer, basketball, and some others. Olympic rowing is among those that don’t occupy a spot near the top of most viewed lists. Yet, have you wondered how much the world’s most elite rowers make? Do the respective governing bodies or IOC pay athletes monthly salaries? The answer is far more complicated than you’d think.

How much does a Paris 2024 qualified professional rower earn?

How much money a professional rower or any pro athlete earns may vary wildly, depending on several factors. Unlike your regular 9-to-5, pro athletes don’t earn fixed salaries. According to the aggregator site Comparably, the average monthly salary for both men and women rowers in the U.S. is $5,347 and $64,167 annually. However, there seems to be a huge disparity between the highest and lowest earnings.

According to the website, which compiles data from anonymous reviewers (in this case rowers), claims the lowest one can earn is around $28,000 annually. However, the annual earning ceiling stands at a whopping $257,550. Unfortunately, reaching that number would be impossible for any athlete unless they can bag lucrative sponsorship deals.

Money plays a huge role in professional competitive sports. Take international club soccer, the NBA, or boxing, for instance, where top-tier athletes sign contracts worth millions. However, those who strive for Olympic medals don’t do it for the money. Although thousands of athletes will compete at Paris 2024, none will earn prize money.

The International Olympic Committee doesn’t aid athletes financially. For Olympic rowers, it all comes down to monthly stipends and additional income from sponsorships. Those Olympians who fail to secure sponsorship deals earn shockingly little from stipends. We don’t have to turn to anonymously sourced data to know how little that amount can be.

The Olympic medalists who have highlighted the financial struggles rowers face

As rowers prepare to take to the waters of the Seine at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Matt Gotrel’s story acts as a revelation. The Team GB rower was at the top of the world when he posed with his teammate, with gold medals around their necks at Rio 2026. However, the Team-8 rower’s joy disappeared when he struggled to make ends meet after the 2016 games.

It wasn’t until he earned a job as an engineer and then a successful sailor that the rower could return to his passion. “The worst time was probably in 2017… I decided to retire and not go back to rowing. There was a period where I had no real idea what I was going to do for a living,” Gotrel told ME & MY MONEY in a 2021 interview. The situation was equally dire for Megan Kalmoe.

Part of the London 2012 bronze-medal-winning team, Kalmoe’s harrowing financial struggles surfaced in a 2016 ESPN report. Despite winning Olympic and world championship medals, the University of Washington Rowing Club alum earned only $800 per month in 2014. “I’m one of the best athletes in the country… I can’t sleep when I have to buy new running shoes.” Kalmoe said in 2014.

You may be wondering how Kalmoe ended up in such dire straits. One of the reasons is that the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee is the only NOC in the world that doesn’t receive government funding. According to ESPN, the USOPC mustered a $795 million budget between the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. Unfortunately, only $81 million was spent to directly assist athletes.

However, considering Matt Gotrel’s story, even government-funded Olympic rowing teams don’t seem flush with cash. Now, with Paris 2024 knocking on our doors, the overall financial situation for rowers seems to have improved. Yet, we’ll still have to rely on athletes to divulge any information, as official governing bodies do not publicly disclose athlete pay.