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Although it feels safe to assume that Olympic athletes rake in the dough like other celebrities and public figures, the truth is that many of them hold down multiple jobs just to make ends meet. The athletes representing the $2 billion world view usually take home tens of thousands of dollars at most, and many get nothing directly from the competition.
In addition, the cost of training for the Olympics can range from tens of thousands of dollars a year to more than $100,000 for some sports. The annual cost of training in sports like skiing and skating can run as high as five or even six figures once flights to competitions, equipment, ice time, coaching, physical therapy, and insurance are considered. very different depending on their country and the medal they received.
For example, a gold medalist in Singapore can expect to take home nearly $750,000, but one from the US only banked $38,000, according to the National Olympic Committee and other local reports. analyzed by CNBC in 2024. Those figures also do not account for taxes and other fees, which further reduce the earning potential of athletes.
That’s usually one of the ways Olympians take home money for their efforts, although every US Olympian this year does. $200,000whether they medal or not, thanks to a $100 million gift to the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) from billionaire Ross Stevens, the founder and CEO of Stone Ridge Holdings Group. But they won’t see the money right away: The first $100,000 they’ll receive at age 45, or 20 years after their first qualifying Olympic appearance, whichever comes later. The remaining $100,000 will be given as a guaranteed benefit to their families after they die.
“I do not believe that financial uncertainty should stop our nation’s elite athletes from pushing new boundaries of excellence,” Stevens said.
However, the gap between the commercial weight of the Olympic brand and the financial reality for athletes is what drives many American winter athletes to second jobs. Here are some examples of how the winter Olympians met.
The barista
Alpine skier Keely Cashman, who represents the US in the 2022 Winter Olympics and qualified for this year’s gameswill spend part of his year behind the counter as a barista at Serene Bean, a coffee shop owned by his family in Strawberry, Calif.—a very small town with a population of Only 86 people.
Al Bello—Getty Images
Growing up in a blue-collar area, Cashman didn’t have as many financial resources as other athletes. But at age 12, he went to Tahoe to ski, and he still trains there in the offseason.
“Ski racing is obviously a very expensive sport. I come from a very blue-collar place,” Cashman SPOKE local news station KSBW. “Me and my brothers were able to ski race because my dad was a coach, and that covered some of the expenses.”
While Cashman did not disclose her earnings from being a barista, this money helps fill the financial gaps left by the variable support of the federation and the loss of large endorsement money in women’s speed events, even for the Olympians. According to Indeed, California baristas make an average of $18.90 every hour.
The broker
Curler Chris Plys also works for his family business when he is not competing. Plys, now 38, left college when his father battled brain cancer to take over his food brokerage, Plys Superior Consulting, and still owns the business in Duluth, Minn.
“It was the first big thing I went through after the Olympics, and it just forced me to grow up fast,” he said. SPOKE USA Today.
Dustin Satloff—Getty Images
He now balances running the company with training and competing for Team USA in men’s and mixed doubles curling. In 2010, Plys also competed in the reality show Bank of Hollywood on help pay his parents to see him compete in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics as an alternate; the trip cost $6,500. Plys is also competing in the 2022 Beijing Games. He still plays vice-skip on John Shuster’s team and competes in the US Olympic Curling Team Trials for Milano-Cortina 2026 in late 2025, but it is unclear if he will compete this year.
The dentist
If Tara Peterson isn’t curling, she’s a practicing dentistry in White Bear Lake, Minn., at Isaacson Gentle Dentistry. Peterson’s parents, a dentist and a dental hygienist, joined a curling league and signed Tara and her older sister, Tabitha, for a junior curling league in St. Paul, which launched Peterson’s career.
Elsa—Getty Images
Tara made her Olympic debut as the lead alongside her sister, Tabitha, who will skip the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, where they finished sixth. Tabitha is also in the health care field, working as a pharmacist. The median salary for dentists in 2024 will be $180,000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. DATAand pharmacists earn about $140,000. Both Tara and Tabitha have qualified for the 2026 Olympics.
The artist
Freestyle moguls skier Bradley Wilson, a three-time Olympian, made his own business that sells original artworkcalled Bradley Wilson Studios.
Patrick Smith—Getty Images
“Like most sports, skiing has an offseason, and I have to stay productive. So during the summer in Park City, I started playing around with painting, and like my skiing career, the art began to develop and began to improve,” Wilson wrote on his site. “I’ve been selling paintings for three years now, and it’s helped a lot to pay my expenses in my skiing career.”
He also has several sponsors listed, including Deer Valley Resort and snow helmet company Giro. Wilson selling prints for about $50 each and paintings for up to $600. He competed in the 2014, 2018, and 2022 Olympics.
A version of this story was published by Fortune.com on February 3, 2026.
