How to Be an Olympic Athlete

Government, corporations give athletes big bucks on top of Olympic glory

(NEWSER) - Decades ago, bringing glory to the motherland would have been the sole reward for victorious Chinese Olympians. The glory is still there—plenty of it, as China leads the gold medal table—but champions can now expect an average reward of $300,000 in cash and bonuses, even before corporate sponsorship deals roll in, the Los Angeles Times reports. More»

Sweden's Abrahamian only out for the gold

(NEWSER) - Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian threw his bronze medal to the floor during the ceremony, stormed off, and vowed to quit the sport, the Telegraph reports. "I don't care about this medal. I wanted gold," Abrahamian said. The wrestler had earlier confronted the judges’ over their decision that eventually gave the gold to Andrea Minguzzi, before being restrained by team officials. More»

(NEWSER) - For those who won't watch every Olympic game—and who will?—Esquire has picked a few Olympic highlights to Tivo:

• Day 1: Michael Phelps starts his second bid for eight gold medals.
• Day 2: Kobe Bryant dribbles and shoots in the Olympics—for the first time ever.
• Day 2: US field hockey player Jesse Gey wows with her looks and her game.

80% are jobless, injured, or impoverished

(NEWSER) - Zhao Yonghua was a Chinese national skiing champion and won several gold medals. But now, at 31, she is bedridden from diabetes, exacerbated by overtraining. With no hope of recovery or employment, the former star finally had to sell one of her gold medals to raise money for treatment. As NPR reports, Zhao is only one of many athletes whose lives have been upended in pursuit of sporting glory. More»

US champion can't let anything distract her in Olympic trials

(NEWSER) - When storms inundated Shawn Johnson's hometown of West Des Moines, they also left a foot of water in her gym. But the 16-year-old couldn't use that as an excuse to take a break from workouts: The reigning world champion gymnast was preparing for this week’s Olympic trials, the Houston Chronicle reports. More»