Shannon Bahrke roasts coffee. Michelle Roark blends perfume. Noelle Pikus-Pace sews hats. Megan Sweeney tends bar.
America’s Winter Olympians work just as hard off the snow and ice as on it. They have no choice. Tough economic times are battering them like a blizzard, so they have opened businesses or taken part-time jobs to pay the bills.
Scarce sponsorships during the global recession have forced Olympic athletes to compensate for the loss of income with entrepreneurial ventures and old-fashioned minimum-wage paychecks.
For many, the road to the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver and Whistler has been paved with extra sweat. Their reward is a shot at a gold medal. They have no illusions about striking it rich in their chosen sports.
It’s exhausting to spend hours practicing runs down a moguls course, then hours more in a warehouse grinding, packaging and shipping coffee but that’s what Bahrke endured in order to make her third Olympic freestyle skiing team.
“We used to get a lot of money through our equipment and apparel companies, but now we’re lucky to get a pair of skis,” Bahrke said. “I’ve been on the ski team for 12 years and this was the first season I had to invest my own money in the sport. It was either pay my own expenses or retire.”
At least Bahrke has plenty of caffeine to keep her going. She started the Silver Bean Coffee company, which has six blends. The 2002 silver medalist employs other skiers in Salt Lake City and donates a portion of her revenue to athletes on the U.S. team.
“It’s not yet turning a profit but I’ve been able to pay for travel to World Cups, two training camps and massage therapy,” she said. “People may define you by the medals you win but I’ve always wanted my own business.”
The U.S. Olympic Committee was careful to protect funding for its elite athletes when it laid off 54 employees and cut its budget 5 percent to $135.5 million last spring. It lost key sponsors General Motors, Bank of America and Home Depot, the home improvement chain that employed about 85 athletes at its stores, including Bahrke.
The USOC will receive $255 million in TV revenue for the 2010 and 2012 Games, but national governing bodies, which depend heavily on sponsors, have struggled to maintain the stipends and bonuses athletes need to get through a season.
The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association made pay and budget cuts that affected staff and developing athletes. U.S. Speedskating lost sponsor USB, a Dutch bank that went bankrupt, and grabbed the lifeline offered by comedian Stephen Colbert, whose Colbert Nation website fans have pledged $300,000 in donations.
“In a time when non-profit and arts organizations are going under, we’ve had to get creative,” said Janine Alfano, USOC chief development officer, who said fundraising in 2009 increased to $9.5 million from $5.8 million. “We had the unique timing of a short gap between the Beijing and Vancouver Games and were able to keep the momentum going. Our performance is a credit to how passionate people are about the Olympics.”
Noelle Pikus-Pace, a skeleton racer, lost her Speedo sponsorship when the company decided to focus on summer sports. To save money, her husband, Janson, built her a sled last summer to replace a broken one. Buying a new sled costs up to $10,000, plus $5,000 for five sets of runners. Pikus-Pace also sells hats to make money.
While a few athletes such as Shaun White strike it rich, most Winter Olympic athletes live frugally and train in obscurity. Luger Megan Sweeney works as a waitress at the Downhill Grill in Lake Placid, N.Y., and as a bartender. Her teammate Christian Niccum worked in a nursing home, sold truck tires and moved back in with his parents. Teammate Bengt Walden owns Health Forum, a gym.
Jennifer Rodriguez, a two-time medalist in long track speedskating, almost ended her comeback last year when she was nearly broke. She put her car, bike and Olympic skinsuits up for bid.
“Our sport is very popular and very successful only once every four years,” said Rodriguez, who got relief from donors to the America for Gold website and gets about $1,750 per month in federation and USOC stipends. “But we train every single day.”
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