Even those at the top of the sport need to supplement their income and have more than earned their right to a side-hustle
Ayoung British acquaintance of mine named Jack Laugher, whom I used to see at diving events, has been in the news this week as one of a group of athletes earning money from the online platform OnlyFans.
The world can be very prudish. It feels like people like to shame athletes who show off their bodies, even though there’s usually no full-frontal nudity involved.
My attitude – as a former Olympic Champion who has been posting content on OnlyFans for 18 months – is that it’s a useful way of supplementing income. After all the hours and sacrifice we’ve put in, we athletes have more than earned the odd side-hustle.
Since I retired from diving in 2016, my income has slowed down. I am doing corporate speaking and have worked in a few other roles, but the money I’m collecting from OnlyFans helps me get by.
I’ve invested a lot of time and effort in my body. If people want to see it, I’d be stupid to give it away for free. Yes, some might ask “Why give it away at all?” But my answer to that would be “my body, my choice” and just like any project you’ve worked hard on, it’s natural to be proud and want to show it to people.
I’d also point out that a lot of athletes have stored up physical issues for ourselves down the track with the intensity of our training. So when it comes to this particular resource, it makes sense to cash in when the product is at its peak – when everything is nice and tight, sitting high and bulging in all the right places!
I thought hard before I got involved with OnlyFans, and I approached it with an abundance of caution. I still haven’t shown any full-frontal nudity on my page. When it comes to nudity, my personal philosophy around it is “If I can defend this as artistic rather than obscene then I will share it.” Because when it crosses the line into pornography, that’s when people can start taking issue, and it would almost certainly start to impact my mainstream opportunities.
The harsh truth of sport is that a small percentage of athletes make it big. Those people might be rewarded with lots of juicy sponsorships, but we’re talking about only the most beautiful and charismatic of Olympic champions. A lot of brilliant performers get left behind.
Call it the Federer effect, where a handful of famous names bag multiple blue-chip brands across a range of products, services and industries, but you don’t have to go far down the pecking order before the benefits dry up.
Returning to the diving, Jack might have an Olympic gold medal, but he’s up against Tom Daley, who captured the heart of the British nation at the age of 13 and has done an amazing job of sustaining that relationship for the past 16 years.
I read that Jack was earning £28,000 from Team GB, which is not a lot for a sportsperson of his standing, and explains why he is looking to supplement his income. Having said that, it’s still better remuneration than what I remember us receiving in Australia.
My personal earnings as an athlete dipped and climbed unpredictably. Funding was based entirely on how you performed at the benchmark event of the previous year, whether that be the Olympics or World Championships, and if you didn’t compete because of injury, or you had one bad dive and didn’t medal, then things could get very difficult.
Matthew Mitcham has been posting content on OnlyFans for 18 months and says it is a useful way to supplement income CREDIT: Getty Images/Chris Hyde
I’ve never actually spoken to Jack about his OnlyFans, though I have offered some advice to Robbie Manson, a rower from New Zealand who is a good friend. Robbie has gone down a different route than Jack and myself: he shares more artistic nudes (which are beautiful, to be honest) and rightfully charges extra for them.
Generally, you have a monthly subscription rate, and if that stands at $10US then the platform takes $2 and you end up with $8. You can’t see how many subscribers other accounts have got, but Jack is receiving an average of 450 to 500 likes on his pictures, so he has at least that many followers. I can say with some confidence that he is making a good deal more from his photographs in a year than the £28,000 he said he gets from diving. It’s a no-brainer for him to use OnlyFans.
In this business, being a successful athlete doesn’t automatically guarantee success on the site. We’re talking about a very visual medium. If you’re hot and you market yourself effectively and regularly, you can attract a lot of interest.
The real bonus of being an Olympic champion is that you have a bigger following on other social channels like Instagram and X/Twitter. The more people you can promote yourself to, the more people are likely to follow you on your paid channel. I’ve only got 50,000 followers on Instagram, but Jack has 300,000.
I admit that there is a stigma attached to modelling on OnlyFans, and you have to weigh it up carefully. Ultimately, you can play safe and stay within the system, or you can decide to be a maverick – one of those people who steps outside the system and changes it.
There’s no logical reason why sharing tailored content with a specific group of supportive, liberal fans should affect an athlete’s ability to appeal to the mainstream. Let’s hear it for the mavericks, I say.
- Matthew Mitcham is a former Olympian who won gold in the 10-metre platform diving at the 2008 Olympic Games
