In her new book, My Fight / Your Fight, Ronda Rousey talks about the troubles she had following her historic bronze medal performance in Judo at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She left the sport broke, disillusioned, and without the skills or connections needed to find herself some decent employment. She’s now discussing the issue on her book tour… an issue many Olympic athletes face. What she said to Larry King:
“The Olympians in our sport are really neglected. There’s millions and millions of dollars being made off these athletes, but I can home with just a handshake and a boot out the door. My family probably spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to get me to win an Olympic medal, and they sent me home with $10,000 and then taxed me on that $10,000, and it payed for half of a 2005 Honda Accord. And there’s no job placement for Olympians, there’s no scholarships, it’s just ‘Thank you for devoting your life, maybe you can drive a cab.’ Something like that. So… fighting never helped me get a job ever, except as a cocktail waitress in Crenshaw.”
(As a side note, that 2005 Honda Accord she talks about is currently for sale on eBay.)
Rousey isn’t the only one who noted how poorly countries treat their Olympic athletes after they’re all used up. There’s actually a well discussed phenomena amongst athletes known as “Post Olympic Depression Syndrome.” Training and support systems disappear. Sponsorship money dries up. Those who can’t figure out a new purpose often end up like Ronda, living out of their car, drinking and doing drugs, working menial minimum wage jobs. Sometimes, they commit suicide.
It’s obviously not up to the Olympics to make sure every athlete ends up with a “Happily Ever After” kind of life. But considering the amount of years and money these athletes pour into the endeavor, combined with the billions of dollars that flow through the games, you’d think there would be at least some sort of system in place to help those who sacrificed their youth transition after the Games.
Ronda Rousey has no issue speaking truth to power on these kinds of issues. She has been outspoken in the past on issues within USA Judo, the federation that oversees amateur judo development. Two years ago, she blasted them for falling four months behind on athlete payments. Earlier this year, she said that International Judo Federation politics was “going to destroy judo” after the IJF threatened to ban any of their athletes who competed in mixed martial arts.
(via Ora TV)