Argument

            America was built upon the idea that a man’s attitude and work ethic should determine his prosperity. So why do we as a Nation make the hardest working athletes at the top of their respected sports compete in the Olympic Games for free? Patriotism and the thrill of competition can’t but food on the table and sneakers on the feet of athletes. American athletes deserve payment for their participation in the games.

            Nick Symmonds, who is an accomplished two-mile runner, has been offering up advertising space on his arms in the form of temporary tattoos to raise money so he can train for London Olympics.(Escobedo) Symmonds’ story is one that is all too familiar for athletes training for the games around the country. They are expected to train and compete at the highest level but they lack the funding to do so. Where is all the money from the American Broadcast of the games? N.B.C has been advertising the games since the Patriots Super bowl but athletes like Symmons have to resort to desperate measures like selling advertising space on their body so they can train to compete on the world stage of athleticism. Time magazine reported that the United States Olympic Committee (a non-profit organization) churned out a healthy fifty-nine million dollar profit. Even more shocking is how U.S.O.C executive Terry Harper, whose position pays him over one-hundred grand a year, responded to the situation “It’s not my problem”. (Escopedo) When it’s a person’s job to help and organize the Americans to prevail in the 2012 London Games you would think it’s an issue that Harper should care about. But then again the slave-owners in the antebellum period probably didn’t believe that the injustice of slavery was their problem either.

            Many other developed countries competing in the 2012 Games are pioneering new strategies for funding their athletes. Australia is one of those countries pioneering a new plan to divide the lump sum that the country generates from T.V time, advertisements, and etc. into an annual payment for the athletes while still placing incentives to win medals by offering cash bonuses for medalists. (Magnay)According to “The Age”, an Australian Newspaper, Germany developed a progressive but still somewhat lacking plan for paying athletes. Cash bonuses (although still taxable) are going to be awarded to athletes who place from first to eight place in any event, with the highest bonus being given to gold medalists, an amount of about twenty-thousand dollars, and the smallest bonus of two thousand dollars to eighth-place finishers. Although the new plan put forth by the Germans comes up short when factoring how much time athletes spend training throughout the four years between games it is still certainly a step in the right direction, a step in a direction that N.B.A star Dwayne Wade would greatly appreciate.

            Earlier this month N.B.A stars Dwayne Wade and Ray Allen publicly voiced their discontent over not receiving payment for their participation in the Summer Games. (ESPN) Wade’s argument mostly consisted of the simple fact that he is surrendering his summer vacation time, time that should be spent relaxing, spending time with family, and preparing mentally and physically for the coming season to compete for the United States in the Olympics. Wade played brilliantly for the team in the 2008 games in Beijing leading them to a gold medal but should players like Dwayne Wade have to risk injuring their livelihood for free? U.S.A Today interviewed U.S.A Basketball Chairman Jerry Colangelo on the subject and he believes that there is nothing wrong with him and his other executives being paid while the ones doing the labor aren’t. The best three reasons he could think of were "The opportunity to represent your country is a privilege without anything further said, that's No. 1," Colangelo said. "No. 2, the experience broadens individuals in every regard and every respect because you experience things you would not have under any other circumstance — the travel, the people you meet.

"Thirdly, the brand. We will live in a global economy. All of our players have shoe contracts and apparel contracts and they're little mini-business onto themselves and in some cases, they're not mini-businesses, they're quite substantial.”  He isn’t completely wrong in what he said but he neglected the largest and possibly the most obvious issue. What happens to a professional athlete if he or she sustains a career ending injury while they are competing for the games? Imagine how much American Olympic teams would suffer if a professional athlete like Dwayne Wade shattered his knee-cap in a qualifying game against a country like Latvia. Professionals participating in any sport at the game would certainly think twice before they sign up for the 2016 games. Of course the professionals do possess as much patriotism and desire to compete as Americans but there is a major difference in what they risk versus the women’s Kayaking team. The professionals support their families off of their sport.

            Americans participating in the Olympics deserve to be payed based on the amount of money their respected events generate. Sorry Nick Symmonds but Dwayne Wade and his teammates deserve more money than you but the high grossing events like basketball should contribute their money into the fund to pay all athletes. Meaning that the superstars still do take home the most amount of money from the games but in proportion to what their sports generate they take home less money than what athletes in less romantic sports like the distance runners, pole-vaulters, synchronized swimmers, and etc. take home so they can afford to train as well. Barack Obama said in his 2012 State of the Union Address  "As long as we are joined in common purpose, as long as we maintain our common resolve, our journey moves forward, and our future is hopeful, and the state of our Union will always be strong." And I believe that the same idea can be used for Athletes competing in the 2012 London Summer Olympics.