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Originally Posted by Omah
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all of the "financial awards" you are referncing in those articles are by private companies. the US government is not sponsoring anyone, infact it would be interesting to see a comparison of how much the US government spends on olympic athletes, compared to China, Russia, Australia, and the UK. I think you'll find that actually the US government gives almost NOTHING to it's athletes, unlike most countries which basically fund their entire careers.
American athletes actually have to make their own way, they don't have state sponsorship like most other olympic powers. They have to earn their way into their own training programs, usually through a college, and find their own scholarships. An American athlete has fought their way to the top by themselves, not by the government choosing them and sponsoring them like China and Russia where they choose small children to train and sponsor their whole lives.
If the US government actually spent as much on olympic athletes as most countries we'd probably win every gold medal.