For top athletes, winning a medal at the Olympic Games is a lifelong dream. Delphine Racinet-Réau achieved it twice, twelve years apart: silver in Sydney, in 2000, and bronze in London, in 2012. An exceptional career in her sport, sports shooting, “Olympic pit” category ” – another name for trap shooting. However, the champion never became a star: even at the peak of her career, the shooting champion was not able to dedicate herself entirely to her sport.
After the Sydney Games, Delphine Racinet-Réau worked in an auditing firm. Since 2005, she has climbed the ranks at Bouygues Bâtiment IDF. “I had prepared a double project to be sure that I could get back on my feet: have a sporting career, and a career in general,” she explains. “I am not one of the highly publicized sports.” The champion has always known that she is practicing a sport that cannot nourish her. The Shooting Federation and the clubs do not pay their participants, while advertising contracts are almost non-existent. “Even after my medals, I did not have any requests from very important brands,” she continues. “It was above all “technical” sponsorship, and therefore equipment, like rifles and cartridges.”
Neither ball-trap nor Delphine Racinet-Réau are exceptions. “Athletes often say to themselves that once we have won the Games, nothing can happen to us,” says Denis Gargaud, Olympic champion in canoe-kayak in 2016. “It’s an idea that we must fight” . Kayaking, fencing, sailing, cycling… Far from the fantastic contracts of football stars, or exceptions like those of judoka Teddy Rinner, many Olympic medalists cannot make a living from their sport. Often, their life afterwards is even complicated: eighteen months after retiring from sports, in 2019, Emilie Andéol, gold medalist in Rio in 2016, explained to Le Parisien that she was unemployed and in “a struggle”. One hundred and twenty-seven years after the first modern Olympic Games, Olympic sports are still looking for an economic model. The majority of medalists, the crème de la crème of their disciplines, do not win gold.
Olympic bonuses
Winning Olympic medals certainly comes with nice bonuses, the amount of which has continued to increase during the last editions of the Games. In Paris, in 2024, gold will bring in 80,000 euros per athlete – individually and collectively – compared to 65,000 euros in Tokyo in 2021 and 50,000 euros in Rio and London. Winning the money will allow you to receive 40,000 euros instead of 25,000 euros. Bronze, 20,000 euros, when athletes from previous Games received 15,000 euros. Round sums, although now taxable. “They are not enough to live on: in my time, the amount of the bonus for gold was not even equivalent to a minimum wage over four years, points out Jérémie Azou, Olympic rowing champion in the lightweight double sculls at Rio. That’s only if you’re in the best of the best. Injured or sick on the day of the competition, you’re ranked lower, or you don’t have a medal at all.”
To survive between two editions of the Games, medalists can count on subsidies from their federation. These “personalized aids” do not depend on medals, and are awarded to high-level athletes by the national technical director of each federation. They are of 5 types: social assistance – depending on the athletes’ resources -, performance bonuses – for athletes who have achieved podiums during World Championships, for example -, reimbursement of expenses, aid for training projects. training, or even sums paid directly by the State to the employer. To encourage companies to maintain the salaries of their Olympic athletes, the State directly pays part of this sum to this company when its employee is absent.
Thanks to these subsidies, Olivier Bausset, bronze medalist in sailing in Beijing in 2008, was able to benefit from “750 to 800 euros per month” in addition to his pharmacy intern salary. His daily life has since moved away from his sport: he is director of the Cerballiance biology laboratory, in Provence-Alpes Côte d’Azur. In the case of Jérémie Azou, the aid distributed by his federation, amounting to close to “1200 to 1500 euros net monthly” was added to the physiotherapist activity that he carried out in parallel. “Cumulating everything together, I came to around 3,000 euros,” he says. Enough to live comfortably.
Reduced time
Champions wishing to continue their sporting careers try to ride on their podiums and their media coverage. “Shortly after my medal, I was able to have a few additional sponsors, which allowed me to save and provide a contribution towards a house,” says Julien Bahain, bronze quadruple sculls rowing champion at the Games. Beijing Olympics in 2008. The team’s sponsor, Adidas, had doubled the Olympic bonus for each athlete, allowing them to accumulate 18,000 euros after the games. “We also had partnerships linked to our equipment, remembers the rower. Maine-et-Loire had contributed, as well as semi-private companies like EDF”. Collaborations declined after his ranking in London – he came 10th, this time in a double scull. “Attracting sponsors is a lot of effort for relatively little result. When you combine training and work, nothing is easy,” explains Bahain, who notably held an engineering position during his preparation for the London Olympics. . Especially when we are far from Paris, where many of the evenings that bring together athletes and sponsors take place.”
Signing contracts is a question of location and timing: you have to be in the right place, at the right time. “And have the right medal,” adds fencer Brice Guyart. “During the month following a medal, the media have a strong interest in your profile.” Gold medalist in team foil in Sydney, then individual in Athens four years later, the athlete, who worked for a time for the SNCF, is now a member of the organizing committee for the 2024 Games. “This time where the media are interested in you is essential for any athlete who wants to sustain his situation. He must learn to tell a story, very quickly, to capture the attention of sponsors.”
Know how to “sell yourself”
In addition to an exceptional track record, it is this ability to create your own brand that often distinguishes financial successes from ordinary medalists. “These are the ones who know how to ‘sell themselves’,” comments Julien Bahain. Kevin Mayer, silver medalist in the decathlon in Rio, attracts brands like Nike, Mont Blanc, FDJ and Gillette. Retired, Martin Fourcade, five-time Olympic champion, continues to sign contracts with Odlo, a technical underwear brand, and Rossignol Apparatus. Teddy Riner, finally, who has three gold medals, two bronze medals, and eleven world champion titles, combines advertising contracts. In 2018, the year of the last version of the salary ranking of French athletes, the judoka was the only Olympic athlete to climb into the top 50 – in 35th place. This year, he was even the subject of a record offer – refused – of 15 million euros by the UFC, an MMA federation. “Teddy Riner was able to transform his sporting potential into economic potential, but remains an exception, underlines Laurent Acharian, former journalist at The Teamtoday at the head of BCG Next”.
Certain Olympic disciplines have found the solution of financing their athletes internally. Since the beginning of the 2000s, the French Handball Federation has contributed to the establishment of professional leagues, made up of thirty clubs for boys and as many for girls. “This system allows athletes to have financial independence, with salaries ranging from 5,000 to 15,000 euros for a handball player, and triple that for a boy,” explains Philippe Bana, president of the French Handball Federation. In the event of a podium finish, those selected for the Olympic Games will receive a federal bonus in addition to state bonuses. “In the event of a gold medal, each athlete will be able to receive 100,000 euros in full,” he continues. Bonuses to which are added the sponsors. Nedim Remili, member of the French handball team, 2020 Olympic champion, says he has been sponsored for “eight or nine years” by Adidas, and “five or six years” by the sports equipment brand McDavid. The contracts are “around 20 to 25,000 euros”. But these comfortable sums do not take away a torment that worries any medalist: the question of what comes next.
Reception of major schools
The anxiety of retirement from sport torments every medalist. Initiatives have been put in place to improve the retraining of high-level athletes. The performance pact, created in 2014 and since 2017 under the aegis of the French Sport Foundation, is one of the most cited measures. It thus allows companies to financially support athletes up to a minimum amount of 20,700 euros per year. A way of investing in an athlete who will then be able to eventually retrain in the business. The SNCF, Engie, but also the army are fond of the system.
Several major schools such as Essec, Sciences Po and EDHEC have created specific entry routes for high-level athletes in order to encourage their retraining. “Our Federation helps its athletes, medalists or not, to try to find their first job. We advise them, we try to make our network work,” underlines Stéphane Noomis, president of the French Judo Federation. The method is similar to that of the FFF handball. “We do everything to support our handball players as closely as possible in their retraining, confirms Philippe Bana. Unlike the early 2000s, when most ended up as physiotherapists or sports managers, we diversify our advice to provide tailor-made solutions” . Do everything possible to avoid leaving the medalists – rich and less rich – behind.
.