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What winter Olympians and aspiring Olympians do for a living when they’re not competing

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00000000
Posts: 11075 - Karma: 82,508
Some food for thought.

Original article -- http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjkiebus/what-winter-olympians-and-aspiring-olympians-do-for-a-living

"All the freestyle skiers we talked to were lucky enough to make a living from freestyle skiing. Yater-Wallace wrote down that he’d like to be pro skateboarder. He’s not, but he’d like to be."

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vs.

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Oct 30 2013 9:27AM
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Turkelton
Posts: 2829 - Karma: 8,558
and Buzzfeed doesn't give or care anything about this. I hate stuff like this
Oct 30 2013 9:30AM
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Nacho+
Posts: 3748 - Karma: 7,791
Is there a video of them hitting those rails? I always like when they have to explain skiing to people on tv
Oct 30 2013 12:55PM
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LC.
Posts: 5952 - Karma: 2,423
The correct answer is "ski bum".
Oct 30 2013 1:00PM
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00000000
Posts: 11075 - Karma: 82,508
When your sponsor list includes Target, Redbull, Kellogg's, and Aspen Snowmass... you can no longer claim the title "bum".

No hate though. Love what TYW puts out and can't wait to see him throw down in Sochi. I'm just saying he lives more of a rockstar lifestyle than your typical ski bum haha.
Oct 30 2013 1:12PM
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Jamie_Baril
Posts: 2196 - Karma: 2,513
Haha it is interesting that the freestyle skiers are the only ones without other jobs. Go energy drink/disney(xgames) money!
Oct 30 2013 1:15PM
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Troy.
Posts: 5070 - Karma: 12,549
COOP HAS BEEN SPOTTED
Oct 30 2013 1:17PM
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Jahoe_Stuyve
Posts: 415 - Karma: 2,506
This.
Is there any video from it? All ive been seeing is instagram pics
Oct 30 2013 1:17PM
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CKpolicy
Posts: 2587 - Karma: 2,463
god damn it i envy that little fucker.
Oct 30 2013 1:19PM
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1337
Posts: 31064 - Karma: 29,404
Really interesting to see what the discussion will be about this. Do skiers actually get enough money from sponsors to be able to afford to ski year round? Or are we just a lazy group of trust fund babies not willing to accept reality that we need to make money to fund our habits?
Oct 30 2013 1:21PM
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corona
Posts: 12818 - Karma: 32,995
I think their problem is that 2/3 of the freeskiers are still in highschool where all the other athletes they did are well out of highschool and need actual jobs to live so it's a pretty skewed survey.
Oct 30 2013 1:24PM
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00000000
Posts: 11075 - Karma: 82,508
You should ask in the Wallisch Q&A thread!

Oct 30 2013 1:30PM
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penguiin
Posts: 1444 - Karma: 561
It just comes down to what the public is willing to pay to be entertained. Not many people want to watch speedskating or curling, therefore there is no money involved so the athletes won't get paid. People like to watch skiing, therefore they pay to watch it and when a lot of people watch something the athletes get sponsored and make more money. It's simple stuff.

It's just like when people complain that women athletes don't make enough money and it's because people are sexist. No, it's because it's no entertaining to nobody watches it therefore there is no money in the sport.

tldr; popular sport=money not popular=no money
Oct 30 2013 1:31PM
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Jamie_Baril
Posts: 2196 - Karma: 2,513
People dont pay to watch skiing. I mean a very small market of people pay for ski movies. but thats nothing compared to what advertisers pay disney(espn), and nbc, so they can advertise to a much larger market of people who watch pipe and slope skiing a couple times a year on television (xgames, dew, olympics).
Oct 30 2013 1:53PM
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penguiin
Posts: 1444 - Karma: 561
People want to watch it, so espn and nbc give the people what they want. People pay to watch espn therefore they pay to watch skiing.
Oct 30 2013 2:01PM
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Capurnicus
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Oct 30 2013 2:06PM
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t_rob
Posts: 6433 - Karma: 11,459
It's weird to me that out of the figure skaters, speedskaters, bobsledders, Female hockey player, luger, and curlers that the only pros athletes were the skiers. #perspective
Oct 30 2013 2:08PM
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McSlay
Posts: 651 - Karma: 1,182
I feel like this is a great representation of our sport on a quasi olympic stage
Oct 30 2013 10:47PM
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MaryO
Posts: 2583 - Karma: 5,996
I know of at least one video that will be coming out soon. I'll post it soon as I see it.
Oct 30 2013 11:09PM
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Saintlysteeze
Posts: 704 - Karma: 67
I know theres a bunch of threads on the topic of how much pros make. I know most make nearly nothing. But I would like to know what someone like wallisch, brown, henrik, or tyw makes. It has to be near 6 figures or more. Like that season where wallisch had a ton of podiums, that must of put massive amounts of cash in his pockets
Oct 31 2013 12:34AM
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loganimlach
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Oct 31 2013 1:21AM
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will_powder
Posts: 3194 - Karma: 5,445
I was under the impression that a bunch of those athletes aren't competing anymore. Could be wrong.

This has always been a discussion around the olympics. Should professional athletes be included, when it used to be only ams? (I guess steve would make the team then)

It changed in 1986.

Now we have NHL players playing for gold, Lebron and Kobe destroying Latvia in BBal, etc. I personally think it's a good thing, because frankly the pros are pros for a reason, but it really shows disparity between sports that are professionalized vs those that aren't.
Oct 31 2013 3:44AM
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