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Joe Rogan has slammed the Olympics as a "scam" as he criticized the games for not paying competing athletes enough money for the revenue generated.
By Cameron Winstanley
Joe Rogan slammed the Olympics as a 'scam' (Image: YouTube)
Joe Rogan called the Olympics a “scam” as he slammed the athletes' pay. The UFC commentator hit out at the Olympics for not paying the stars enough money despite the huge amounts of revenue the games earn.
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The Olympics are set to begin in Paris next month, running from July 26 to August 11. And this summer's games become the first in history to add an extra incentive for athletes chasing medals - the first to pay stars if they find themselves on the top step of the podium.
This year’s event marks the first time the World Athletics will directly pay winning athletes with gold medalists taking home $50,000 for their success. Before the changes, athletes would usually earn money through sponsorship, self-generated fees and financing from their own country's organizations.
Rogan discussed the Olympics and athletes' pay on his The Joe Rogan Experience podcast this week as he was joined by guests Christian Angermayer and Dr. Aron D’Souza – co-founders of a new Olympics style event. The UFC commentator made his feelings perfectly clear on the games as he claimed the athletes aren’t paid nearly enough for their efforts and sacrifice.
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Rogan hit out at Olympic athletes' pay (Image: Getty)
"The Olympics is kind of a scam,” Rogan said. “Because it generates billions of dollars in revenue and the people that are there to perform make almost none of that.”
For those athletes representing those countries more prominently seen at the upper reaches of the medal table, the respective nations' athletics organizations will pay their stars. The US Olympic committee pays their gold medal winners $37,500, while silver medalists pocket $22,000 and $15,000 for a bronze.
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The athletics governing body have set a prize fund of $2.4m aside to pay the gold winners across the 48 events at Paris’ track and field events. World Athletics President Sebastian Coe previously said on the decision: "This is the continuation of a journey we started back in 2015, which sees all the money World Athletics receives from the International Olympic Committee for the Olympic Games go directly back into our sport."
He added: “It is important we start somewhere and make sure some of the revenues generated by our athletes at the Olympic Games are directly returned to those who make the Games the global spectacle that it is."
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