Brother.........and there it is in your first sentence. Why start now? We could go on and on about countries who subsidize and pay their athletes, who do nothing else but train, yet.....can there be no sweeter and perfect victory than that athlete who steps up on to the platform in a gold, silver or bronze position, have the laurel wreath pressed on their head having beat that professional? You wanna talk motivating moment and instance of national pride?.......THAT my friend, is it!
Olympics.......keep it pure
PUBLIC OPINION > Olympic Athletes Shouldn't Get Paid
SodaHead Sports
2012/04/13 21:00:00
Dwyane Wade who led the U.S. Men's Basketball team to a gold medal victory in the 2008 Olympics, is backtracking after suggesting Olympic athletes should be paid. He never explicitly said it, but he did say "it would be nice if you would get compensated."
Wade has since clarified that his comment was a response to a reporter who specifically asked for his thoughts on Olympic athletes being paid, and assured fans, "It's always been an honor for me to be a part of the USA Olympic family ... and I'm looking forward to doing it again in London this summer." We think that's a pretty fair excuse, but it begs the question... What does the public think about the idea?
Wade has since clarified that his comment was a response to a reporter who specifically asked for his thoughts on Olympic athletes being paid, and assured fans, "It's always been an honor for me to be a part of the USA Olympic family ... and I'm looking forward to doing it again in London this summer." We think that's a pretty fair excuse, but it begs the question... What does the public think about the idea?
Olympic athletes have never been paid in the past. Why start now? The Top Opinion read, "Goes against the very spirit of the olympics," and many comments echoed the same thought. The Olympics celebrate national pride, love of the sport and the competition. Money would only taint the experience, for both the country and the athlete. The argument in favor of paying Olympic athletes is simple: They're working; why not pay them for their time? But national pride won out in the end.
Empathy From the Unemployed
Forget the age differences, the gender differences, the relationship differences. They were there, but this question brought out differences in a demographic that rarely shows much variation: employment. Unemployed voters (distinguishable from students) were twice as likely to say Olympic athletes should be paid. And that's not it...
Money Talks
...Even the amount respondents made had an effect on their response. We phased out the $0-$25K group just to emphasize that we weren't reiterating the unemployed demographic, but each income bracket was less supportive than the last. Only 20% of respondents making over $75K thought Olympic athletes should be compensated.
Progressives Support Pay
Political affiliation had an even bigger affect on how people responded. Progressives were off the charts with 69% calling for compensation, while conservatives came in way under par with just 16% in favor. The fact that the athletes would probably have to be paid through taxes probably had something to do with it.
If you'd like to vote on this question, dig deeper into the demographics, or engage in existing discussion about the topic, visit our poll about paying Olympic athletes. We'd love to hear from you!
Top Opinion
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Freeranger 2012/04/13 21:47:45
I'll qualify myself with this. Were it up to me, I would proclaim the Olypics in it's current state, null and void. From this point forward, each athlete would be responsible for training themself in readiness for their particular endeavor. Sponsorship would be limited to helping an athlete travel to his/her particular venue where they would compete. From that receiving station, athletes would enter a village under lockdown.
Money has corrupted the Olympics. The ultimate question is whether or not pure sports exist anywhere in the world.