“Pay These Athletes”: Amid Unfair Pay Debate, Track and Field Olympians Recall Crippling Income Struggles While Performing at Peak

The lack of popularity of Track and Field has always been a matter of concern. This led even Noah Lyles to call it a “dying” sport. Athletes lacking financial stability have also contributed significantly to this issue. That was once again stirred when World Athletics recently announced a $50000 prize money for the gold medalists in the Paris Olympics. Amid ongoing evaluation of the step by World Athletics, several Olympians came up with their stories of struggling with financial hardships.

Recently, Erin Brown, a Grand Canyon University athlete posted a clip showcasing the situation of the track and field athletes. In a funny tone, the clip shows a pro track athlete, after running the world-leading time, having to go back to doing work like cleaning a restaurant to earn a living. While he captioned the post, “Soo real! Track is a funny sport man”, it struck a chord with many.

Bermudian long jumper Tyrone Smith instantly recalled, “I remember jumping a world lead in 2017 and promptly going to the dealership to sell a car with sand still on me.” He was referring to his performance at the Tom Tellez Invitational meet at the University of Houston where he jumped 8.34m to earn a gold medal. Back in 2017 also, Tyrone had expressed his hardship. “The greatest challenge I’ve faced is finding a way to finance my track and field career… coming from a small nation makes it more difficult to get endorsements and win shoe contracts, so since leaving college I’ve worked full time as a car salesman,” he had said. Soon, several other track athletes found Brown’s post relevant.

Leroy Burrell, who formerly set up a world record twice in the 100m sprint, sounded frustrated as he stated on the post, “Just because one CALLS one’s self a pro track athlete doesn’t mean one IS a pro track athlete.” Meanwhile, 3x NCAA All-American Champion Katelyn Hutchison pointed out that despite the clip looking sarcastic, the actual scenario behind it is grave. She wrote desperately, “Ts not funny but its so funny..  pay these athletes man!” Her concern becomes instantly real with the instance of Chelsea Hayes.

Long jumper Chelsea from Lousiana Tech jumped a new personal best during the 2012 Olympic trials. This made her the first Louisiana Tech athlete to represent the USA in the Olympics. But by sharing Erin Brown’s latest post, Hayes revealed the background scenario of this glory. “…I was working 3 jobs after making an Olympic Team.. had the second best jump in the world 7.10m,” revealed Hayes. This issue is, however, an old demon that comes out regularly.

The demon is creating havoc across all levels

Kyree King, an American sprinter who earned a silver medal in his name in the 100m at the 2022 NACAC Championships, could not hold back his frustration and opened up publicly recently. With a picture of his unpaid bill, he wrote, “It’s gotta stop.” He emphasized the lengthy delay in payment, remarking, “Eight months for 2 bands… not weeks but 8 f*****g months…” The promising athlete was the first to qualify in four events at the NCAA East Preliminaries at Western Kentucky. Notably, although college athletes are now allowed to profit from NIL contracts, they still cannot receive pay-to-play salaries from their schools. Therefore, such agonies are not unprecedented. The pay problem has reached the topmost echelons as well.

In a recent shocking development, sha’Carri Richardson withdrew from the Miramar Invitational, which was supposed to be his season debut. Although the reason was not clear, it is widely speculated that she had pulled out of the meet because of an increased appearance fee. Notably, Sha’Carri has been quite bold on some occasions while speaking up about the unfair pay issues. In December last year, she boldly stated that the money donated by common men does not at all reach the athletes in need.

The payment scenario in track and field has gone to such a low that just a few days back, middle-distance runner Nikki Hitz compared Caitlin Clark’s less-than-impressive pay package to the likes of track and field. It remains to be seen, how long it takes to bring the track and field up to a pedestal where its dazzling stars stop feeling rejected and left out.