After posting the article explaining the Pro Swimming Task Force about two weeks ago, I have come across a handful of other articles and information that are worth sharing.
For the last few quads it seems that the conversation of athlete funding has been focussed on USA Swimming finding a way to retain those athletes who are one good swim away from earning an International Medal or a or dawning the stars and stripes overseas. We have this perception that the elite athletes in our sport have it pretty good and that Michael Phelps, or Natalie Coughlin, for example, could make a decent living off there swimming career alone. For the most part this is true, between medal bonuses, endorsement deals, and guest appearances there is a lot to take advantage of. But then I read an article about Ian Thorpe. The greatest swimmer ever to grace Australia - a country which places swimmers in a category of celebrity that rivals that of A-List Movie Stars stateside - is struggling financially. "The Olympic legend has reluctantly confirmed he recently suffered serious cash flow problems after shedding lucrative sponsorship deals to focus on his university studies," as reported by The Daily Telegraph.
So, we are put back in our place. Swimmers aren't earning NFL salaries... Not Ryan Lochte, not Chloe Sutton. But then you take a look at some of the Olympic Committees and what they are doing to support their athletes and there is some hope. Canada's Winter Olympic Program "Own The Podium" (OTP) was created to increase funding to Winter Olympic athletes over the past 4 years in hope that Canada would not only host the Olympics but hoist away some hefty hardware. And with only five days left in Vancouver, Canada is in fifth place with 10 medals. The US has 25, Germany has 21, and Norway has 14.
Although this doesn't seem to be working for our little sister to the north, the US put together a similar plan in preparation for the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City. The Goal: Put effort into converting Bronze Medalists into Gold Medalists, and Fifth and Sixth place finishers into Silver and Bronze Medalist respectfully. The Results: In 1998 the US earned a total of 13 medals in Nagano to Canada's 15. In 2002 the US earned 34 medals to Canada's 17.
To bring it back to the pool, and specifically the US, just the fact that USA Swimming has a task force looking at the situation is a step in the right direction. Furthermore, The National Team Division of USA Swimming collected applications to help decide how to distribute $90k in discretionary funding directly to athletes. This application sounds a lot like a small business loan application asking for specific goals for each year and ultimately the quad, as well as an evaluation of Strengths, Weaknesses, and Opportunities as seen by the athlete and their coach, and the steps they both plan to take in order to reach success in the water.
Top that all off with SwimMac Carolina announcing a partnership with Wendy's over the weekend that will result in $50,000 in prize money to be distributed at the Charllotte UltraSwim Grand Prix this summer. To put that in perspective, the entire Grand Prix series only gave out $20,000 across all seven meets in 2009. Can I say that we have it all figures out, No. But things are definitely going in the right direction.
