New Zealand rower Robbie Manson has some advice for Olympic athletes looking to bolster their income: Join OnlyFans. "I am making more from OnlyFans than I am from rowing at this stage," Manson, 34, told Reuters on Wednesday, the eve of the Olympic men's double sculls final, in which he competed alongside partner Jordan Parry. (They did not medal, notes OutSports.) Manson, who is openly gay, said the money he pulls in from OnlyFans, an adult-themed platform where users pay a subscription to view content from specific creators, is "more than double" what he would otherwise see as an athlete.
Manson admitted to sharing "artistic nudes" on the platform. But "people need to subscribe if they want to know what's exactly on there," he added. He said he was inspired to open an OnlyFans account by Australian diver Matthew Mitchum, who became the first openly gay athlete to win an Olympic gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Games. "It's a useful way of supplementing income," Mitchum, who retired from diving in 2016 and has been operating an OnlyFans account for 18 months, writes in a Telegraph op-ed, per Us Weekly.
Mitchum also describes the "shame" directed at those who take such a path. But "after all the hours and sacrifice we've put in, we athletes have more than earned the odd side hustle," he writes, noting he has chosen not to show full-frontal nudity. "I wouldn't say it's for everyone," Manson tells Reuters. But "for other athletes, there's definitely an opportunity there." There are, in fact, numerous Olympians on OnlyFans. One of them, British diver Jack Laugher, 29, tells the Telegraph he's "top three in the world" yet receives just $36,000 in annual funding, per the New York Post. On OnlyFans, "I've got what people want," he says. "I'll happily cash in on that." (More OnlyFans stories.)