Last anyone heard of Lolo Jones she was telling the world about being a virgin and how she wanted to date Tim Tebow. She also managed to find a new gig with the US Bobsled Team that won gold at the World Championships. Apparently though she wants to be paid way more for representing her country than the Federation is able to pay. For her seven month season she was paid a little over $700 and thinks she should be paid a whole lot more for her contribution. Does she know how many people would kill to be able to represent their country and have a chance at a gold medal and would do it for nothing? Back in the day, Olympic athletes were not paid anything and had day jobs or did what they could in order to compete because it is something they loved. Lolo posted a video mocking how much she got paid and in the video even pretended to call her landlord to say she would be late with her rent. If she does not want to do something, then don't do it and let someone who is grateful for the chance to compete. I would much rather have a bunch of people who care and want to be on a team than those who are just doing it for a paycheck.
What an ungrateful biotch!
ReplyDeleteI agree that it's an honor for her to be on the team but there is a lot of money being made in the Olympics so why shouldn't the athletes get any of it?
ReplyDelete$700 for 7 months? Are you kidding? I'd complain too
ReplyDeleteI agree. That is pitiful.
DeleteShe just needs to get laid. 'Nuff said
ReplyDeletegreat..she an decline and let someone else who is proud to represent the USA have her vacant spot.
ReplyDelete$700 for 7 months? Are you kidding? I'd complain too
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, but she made that choice. If she wanted a guaranteed income, she should have worked that 7 months at a real job and given the opportunity to someone else.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, they're told up front that they get residuals, not salary. The expectation is that they'll earn money from endorsements. She has a Red Bull sponsorship.
ReplyDeleteOMG I just typed a book and it got lost.
ReplyDeleteI read an article stating that while Lolo is doing ok financially, she was trying to shed light that her lesser known teammates cant survive. $700 a month is not enough to live on especially if they have no endorsement deals.
I had a High school classmate (1989-1991) that was training for Olympics ice skating team. She trained in the morning from 5 to 8, went to school, trained from 3 to 8 (sometimes later). She couldnt participate in many school activities bc of training schedule. I ran into her 10 yrs ago and poor thing was a barmaid. She was beautiful in high school and now was a shell of what I remember her to be. She told me she hurt her knee thus couldn't qualify for the team, got very depressed, got knocked up, etc.. All in all she sacrificed a good part of her life for a dream never came true. So I can imagine Lolo teammates needing money to survive especially if they dont win the Olympics.
Endorsements would help a bitch out.
ReplyDeleteNot only can you not work due to the training schedule, it costs a fortune to pay elite-level coaches and buy equipment, especially for the 'smaller' sports like bobsled (I trained for another Winter Olympic sport and I gave it up because it was VERY expensive-- they have to make up for the lower volume of sales somehow, since they don't have millions of people playing and buying the equipment).
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, Lolo Jones clearly craves attention, doesn't she?
Training takes money - your equipment takes money - coaching takes money - and 700 is not going to cover it.
ReplyDeleteLolo Jones will be fine because she has an endorsement. What about the other members of her team? Anyone know their names? What about the people who take part in little known/unpopular events? They too have trained their butts off, yet are far from making Phelps money.
Every Olympic athlete is one injury away from working at Wendys and they know it.
Anyway, 'enty' passion is this blog but there certainly is a lot of ad revenue being generated isn't there?
this is why they call it the Olympics and not Professional Sports. It's an honor, so get over it. PLUS, the rules for American Olympic athletes are much more relaxed now, so they can get endorsement deals, etc. to help defray the costs of training. Yeah, it's not for everyone. So put up or shut up and make a bajillion dollars in professional sports. This is me crying for you, while I sit at my desk working a everyday job and wonder how to afford a new roof. Boo-fucking-Hoo. Get over it.
ReplyDeleteBack in the day the athletes were not paid, but even in Ancient Greece, when they got back to their towns, they had a lot of "endorsments" that let them live as the king (or the leader in their State, being Greece a Republic, you know). When she goes back to the USA after the games, she has the brook to live in instead.
ReplyDeleteThey weren't paid in cash, but they lived as a communist dictator. fidel castro may not have a huge bank account, but his life in Cuba is far from the villagers', and so many others who are proud of not having cash.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that she did it too. You should read about Sara Robles, the female weightlifter who represented the US in the 2012 Summer Olympics. She was surviving on $400/ month and had a very demanding schedule.
ReplyDeleteThe Sport Business Journal claims that the IOC generated $5bn over a four year period. So surely they can afford to pay a little more than $700 per month. Also some sports like female weightlifting are not going to get big endorsements, if any at all.
Ughhhh. People. Famous athlete does not equal big money. I know that and I'm not even much of a sports fan. Google the salaries of female wnba players. You probably make more than they do. And if they're not playing, they're training so it's not like they can get a side job to buoy they income. And they are not earning much when it comes to endorsements. The total amount is a tiny fraction of their income. So the WNBA is an example. Google other sports, including the NFL. You'd be surprised.
ReplyDeleteHere is the Forbes list of the 50 top-paid athletes last year.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.forbes.com/athletes/#page:1_sort:0_direction:asc_search:
49 of them are male. The only female is Maria Sharapova.
If you want to make money as an athlete, the basic rule is to play a sport that gets watched frequently by men with disposable income. Track stars hardly feature. Golf rules, but so do male team sports.
I don't blame the sponsors. It's about reaching your target audience, and most men are not watching "reality" TV.
As for Lolo, she has a degree in economics. She should know this stuff.
Lindsay Vonn is probably making more in endorsements now that she's "dating" Tiger than she ever made as a champion skier. I guess her agent studied economics.
Hey Borg Queen..Long time no see!
ReplyDeleteThank you Housey and Ohno for shedding light on a) the true story here and the real story of what sacrifices Olympic Athletes make to represent our country. It truly is a sacrifice.
GTFO with hating on Lolo Jones.
ReplyDelete$700 is basically nothing.
Do you honestly think that Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte are making do on $700?
Or, let's say, Olympian Kobe Bryant?
She's just as much of a world champion.
Training to compete in any sport is a full time job, not an honor.
The video was meant as a joke. Folks are hating on Jones because she was hyped as the next big thing with media attention and didn't live up to expectations unlike her teammates who won gold and silver but got very little attention for doing so. The whole "biracial " thing that Lolo presented herself didn't 't play well with some of the Black women in her team either.
ReplyDeleteGirl - you just ruined any chance of getting any endorsements with that negative attitude and bad sense of humor.
ReplyDeleteThese athletes work hard and they deserve to be paid. Consider how much NFL and NBA players are paid! I bet you don't think they should play for free or for 100 a month! People have to pay their bills.
ReplyDeleteThe olympics are a professional sports team. Of course they won't make the same as Kobe does. He gets paid by the NBA and many endorsements. Michael Phelps gets money from endorsements.
ReplyDeleteThe USA wants the best of the best and maybe elite training to get it should make them take a look at how they are paid. However it's still an honor that comes with a choice to do it. Her entitled attitude is off putting and obnoxious. They could always get a job and do something else.
A lot of people are stuck making less than $700 but suck it up because they don't have other options.