Canadian pole vaulter Alysha Newman made history in Paris this week, clearing a 4.85-m-high bar to clinch bronze and become the first Canadian woman to win an Olympic medal in the sport. While the Canadian Olympic Committee will pay Newman $10,000 for the feat (the going rate for a bronze medal), money is also pouring in from her OnlyFans subscribers. 

Few Olympians earn a living wage by competing in their sport, even if they take home a medal. Amateur athletes have long worked jobs on the side to support themselves while they train and compete—from farming, to birthday-party clowning, to firefighting and systems engineering. Home Depot famously had a program through the 1990s and 2000s dedicated to hiring Olympic athletes in the off-season. (It ended in 2009.) 

Now, more athletes like Newman are relying on the creator economy to help them make ends meet while pursuing their Olympic dreams. “Ninety-nine per cent of them aren’t going to go pro,” said Jonathan Chanti, president of talent at Viral Nation, a Toronto-based social-media marketing agency that helps influencers—including athletes—generate income online. He said he’s seeing more athletes supporting themselves online, especially Gen Z on Instagram and Tiktok. “Their social footprint can lead to a full-time career, or it could lead to an enhancement of anything they go into [next].”

According to OnlyFans—which so far has catered mostly to an audience seeking sexually explicit photos, videos and chats—four athletes competing in Paris have creator accounts on the site. Along with Newman, it highlights British divers Noah Williams and Jack Laugher and Australian rower Robbie Manson on an “Olympians of OnlyFans” page that includes information about when they’re competing and how they fared. 

Creators who post to the platform earn money from subscription fees fans pay to access the content, and from tips they pay through the site. Newman charges a $12.99 monthly subscription fee, though she’s currently offering a $7.79 promotion during the Olympics. Her content might be considered risqué if it were posted on Instagram, but wouldn’t violate its no-nudity policy. While Manson promises “artistic displays of nudity” but no “explicit sex acts,” the others promote their profiles as being SFW (safe for work). The athletes pose in tiny swimsuits near the pool, flex sweaty muscles in gym mirrors, and take bathroom selfies revealing their hard-earned Olympian abs. Some of their OnlyFans posts simply show the minutiae of daily life—cuddling with pets, going out for dinner, shopping. 

Williams and Laugher—who won silver and bronze medals in Paris, respectively—each have wish lists of gifts fans can buy them. Williams wants swimming goggles, an exercise bike, Amazon gift cards and cutlery. Laugher wants Apple headphones and an AirTag, and a collection of rap vinyl by Mobb Deep, MF Doom and Souls of Mischief. 

Newman was not available for an interview, but in 2022 she told The Daily Mail that joining OnlyFans was a way to take ownership of her image and the content she would otherwise generate for free. “Whether I liked it or not, I was sexualized in the sport naturally by what I wear, and my beauty,” she said. “It was really important for me to be a part of something I could control.”

Chanti said OnlyFans hasn’t been a go-to platform for athletes’ social strategies. But he thinks that could change, as more “PG” creators launch accounts on the site. “Because it’s subscription based, and because the content is behind a paywall, it’s a great opportunity, if it’s done appropriately,” he said, “to create meaningful revenue.” 

“We’re proud to support Olympic athletes who are using OnlyFans to monetize content, engage with fans, and grow their online presence,” OnlyFans said in an emailed statement to The Logic from a spokesperson. “For many, OnlyFans is helping them to support training and living costs, and providing the tools for success on and off the field.” 

The OnlyFans Olympians all hail from countries that pay their medallists some of the smallest cash prizes. Both Canadian and Australian Olympic Committees pay gold, silver and bronze medallists $20,000, $15,000 and $10,000, respectively. The U.K. doesn’t pay medallists at all. Singapore, by contrast, pays individual athletes SGD$1 million for winning gold, $500,000 for silver and $250,000 for bronze (the value is only slightly more in Canadian dollars). 

Regardless of their performance at the games, most Canadian Olympians are eligible for two annual installments of $8,000 from CAN Fund, a charity that supports amateur athletes representing Canada internationally, while the federal government’s Athlete Assistance Program provides a monthly allowance between $1,060 and $1,765.

For most, it’s not enough. Three out of five Canadian athletes are in debt and have negative income, according to a survey by CAN Fund. The organization found that the average annual salary for the last cohort of winter athletes ranged from $9,841 for women’s hockey players to -$27,201 for figure skaters. 

The traditional financial upside for Olympic athletes has been the endorsement deals that sometimes follow a medal win. Chianti acknowledged that sponsors likely place a premium on medal-winners, he said, especially for more traditional TV commercials. But even for Olympians, big brand deals can be hard to come by, especially for those not competing in marquee sports. 

The long stretches between high-profile amateur athletics competitions means athlete creators have to work especially hard to maintain relevance online, Chianti said—and make the most of the moments when they have the world’s attention. Newman caught the attention of the international press by briefly twerking in celebration after her medal-clinching vault. “When the Olympics come around,” said Chanti, “there’s an extra light on them that they can leverage to enhance their ability to monetize.”