'I Cannot Make a Living From It' - US Olympic Champion Exposes the Harsh Financial Reality Behind the Medals

Even for Olympic gold medalists, financial security is not guaranteed, including former Olympic champion Lauryn Williams.

The decorated track and bobsled champion was earning $200,000 a year at age 20, yet by 30, she found herself working as an intern for just $12 an hour.

Despite being the first American woman to win a medal in both the Summer and Winter Olympics, lucrative opportunities were scarce after her athletic career.

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“There’s this misconception that because I’m the first to do this thing and still no one else has done it, that I’m booked all year long for speaking engagements,” she said as quoted by Fortune.

“I get things here or there, but I can’t make a living from it. The news coverage came, but the sponsors didn’t. I made $80,000 the year I became the first American woman to medal in the Summer and Winter Olympics.”

This reality forced her to start over from scratch. In 2013, Lauryn Williams entered the corporate world as an intern at Briaud Financial Advisors.

“I was behind the ball because I was 30 years old and just starting, whereas I had friends who were already doctors and lawyers and well into their careers. I spent all of my 20s competing, so I felt kind of insecure that I didn’t have any real work knowledge.”

Although she was initially turned down for the position, she said the firm's owner decided to bring her on board after learning about her impressive athletic background.

Even at the peak of her career, with a $200,000 sponsorship from Nike, Lauryn Williams noted that her agent took a 20% cut, on top of taxes.

“The money doesn’t go quite as far as people think it does, even though it was a pretty good living for a 20-year-old,” she stressed.

“I had a 10-year career, so it set me up better than the average person by the time I was 30. But it also didn’t give me the income to kick my feet up forever and never have to do anything again.”

Her story might have been different with better financial guidance, a realisation that ultimately inspired her second act.

“I did a Google search after having a second financial advisor that didn’t work out and found CFP coursework,” she said. “I enrolled in it blindly, simply because I wanted to better understand finances for myself.”

After two unsuccessful attempts, Lauryn Williams passed the CFP exam in 2017 while still an intern. Today, she is a CFP Board Ambassador and helps athletes make smart financial decisions through her firm, Worth Winning.

Having advised numerous sports stars, Lauryn Williams knows her experience is the norm, not the exception. While some athletes, like the Philippines' first male Olympic gold medallist Carlos Yulo, receive significant rewards, most need a solid plan B.

“From a sponsorship standpoint, I’ve had multiple gold medal-winning athletes as clients who didn’t compete in ‘premiere’ sports and weren’t clearing $100,000 a year after all was said and done,” she said.

“There are the people that you would call the headliners of the Olympic games that are in commercials and those sorts of things, who are going to be able to retire and never work again if they organise their finances accordingly. But the vast majority of people are going to need to work.”

Lauryn Williams’ journey underscores a hard truth about the Olympic dream, noting that medals may bring glory, but without sound financial planning, they rarely guarantee lifelong security.