Funding the Expensive Road to Rio

Competing in the Olympics is the high-water mark in any athletic career.

The Olympics is an expensive undertaking, costing athletes tens of thousands of dollars annually for coaching, equipment, and space.

In years past, athletes have depended on part–time jobs, donations from family and friends, not to mention funding from local or sometimes national athletic groups. One new way athletes headed to the Rio Olympics have raised funds is via crowdfunding platforms, which allow athletes to set up campaigns and solicit donations online. The Rio games get underway on Friday.

Crowdfunding platforms are by now familiar to many consumers and businesses. Each has a slightly different focus. Indiegogo and Kickstarter tend to specialize on projects or business startups, for example. GoFundme concentrates on personal causes, and this year’s Olympic athletes have in particular turned to it to raise funds.

Jeremy Taiwo, who will be competing in the decathlon as part of the U.S. Olympic team, is GoFundMe’s most successful fundraiser, pulling in $62,000 from more than 300 people since December 2015.

That money will be extremely handy to Taiwo, 28, who says he’s been living below the poverty line, sometimes struggling to pay his rent. (He lives with his girlfriend, the French track Olympian Justine Fedronic, in Seattle.) These financial restrictions have also limited his ability to compete this year, he says. Decathlon, considered one of the most challenging events of the games, requires athletes to participate in 10 track and field heats, including running, jumping, pole vault, javelin, shotput, and discus.