‘OnlyFans saved my life’: Why Olympians are turning to the adult-only site

Team GB’s diving squad made an early splash at the Paris Olympics after Britain’s first ever gold-medal winning diver, Jack Laugher, revealed he supplements his income by posting semi-nude photographs online.

“Yes, I try and make extra money,” Laugher said of his account on OnlyFans, an adult-focused content subscription service. “Obviously, I’ve got something people want, and I’ll happily cash in on that. I’m a bit of a hustler and I want a bit more money if I can [get it].”

To those who imagine winning Olympic glory is its own reward, the admission was treated with shock and horror. For the more pragmatic, however, the real headline was just how little Olympians earn – perhaps making an OnlyFans side-hustle worth pursuing. 

“The funding [in diving] hasn’t changed,” Laugher explained. “When I first went on [in 2011], it was £21,000 for the top eight in the world. And at the time, as a 16-year-old, I was buzzing. But I’m almost 30 now, I’m top three in the world, and it is £28,000 a year.”

Liveable though it may be, a yearly salary of £28,000 falls short of what an average 30-year-old makes. Median pay as of April 2023 for 30-39-year-olds was £37,544, according to official statistics from the House of Commons library. In that context, £28,000 per year hardly keeps pace with other workers of Laugher’s age, not least when one considers the hours worked. According to Laugher’s teammate Tom Daley, in the run-up to the Olympics, divers train for upwards of eight hours per day, six days per week. 

Though Laugher’s OnlyFans account might shock some, it’s hardly uncommon on the Team GB diving squad. Other team members including Noah Williams (24) who will compete in Paris, Rio bronze medallist Daniel Goodfellow (27), and Tokyo gold medallist Matty Lee (26) are all on the platform. None offer explicit content, and as Jack Laugher notes, the group are regularly pictured wearing less in mainstream Olympics coverage. There was scarcely any pearl-clutching when a calendar of Tom Daley clad in nothing but his Speedos was on sale around the 2012 Olympics. 

The cost of training and supporting oneself in order to get to the Olympics has driven other athletes to OnlyFans too. 

Mexican diver Diego Balleza made headlines in 2023 after he pledged to use OnlyFans to fund his Olympic dreams. Offering pictures, videos, and posts for $15 (£11.60) per month, he notes to those who might expect explicit content that “I will not upload something I don’t want”.

Team NZ rower Robbie Manson also uses the platform to share “exclusive content that tastefully explores the boundaries, including artistic portrayals of nudity” for $14.99 per month, though he warns would-be subscribers that doesn’t include “explicit sex acts”.

Manson also makes it clear that by subscribing to his account “you’ll also be directly supporting me on my journey to qualify for the Paris Olympics. Your subscription plays a vital role in helping me pursue my athletic dreams and reach new heights in my sport.”

It’s also worth bearing in mind that while Olympians might be superlative in their chosen disciplines, by the time they retire in their late 20s or early 30s, they haven’t spent a decade in the workplace developing the transferable skills others their age have built up. As a result, returning to the reality of a life outside of sport can be tough. 

“I went from being someone who won medals under a system to then having absolutely nothing and just being dropped out and left to understand life,” explained Team GB short-track speed skater Elise Christie who set up an OnlyFans account after she retired in 2021.

Despite having competed at three Winter Olympics and becoming a three-time world champion, Christie ended up in a “pretty dark place”.

“I had lost my house and was working three jobs at the time… [OnlyFans] brought me back from a really dark place, and I now use it positively,” she said earlier this year.

“A lot of people just use it to engage with me and my life, learn more about it and what went on and question me about sport and fitness,” Christie said. “I use it as engagement for fans that have been with me for a long time. Once… you are using it in the way that you are comfortable with, you’re not forced into things or doing things you don’t want to do, you can use it in the way you want to use it. I have had a lot of negativity as well, but at the end of the day, it kind of saved my life at one point as I had nothing.”

Unlike Laugher, whose OnlyFans account firmly offers only “SFW” (safe for work) content, Christie’s suggests subscribers “prepare to be teased, tantalized [sic], and perhaps even a little surprised”.

“I will share exclusive content that’s spontaneous and exhilarating,” she promises.

There are a great many former Olympians who’ve turned to OnlyFans to supplement their post-Games income. Retirees including Canadian pole vaulter Alysha Newman (30), Canadian speed skater Alexandra Ianculescu (32), Australian basketballer Liz Cambage (32) and Australian springboard diver Matthew Mitcham (36) are all on the platform, offering subscriptions for between $10 and $19.99 per month.

Last year, OnlyFans itself began using the Olympics to promote athletes on its platform. On Twitter, it highlighted 29-year-old fencer Yulen Pereira who was hoping to qualify for Paris. On his account he would offer “fencing tips, techniques, and more” rather than the adult content the brand is more widely associated with. 

Around the same time, Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgios signed up with OnlyFans to create a free-to-subscribe account which would allow him to interact with fans and showcase “gaming, tattoos, [and] my intimate side”.

“They are revolutionising social media and I wanted to be a part of that,” he said. “Athletes can no longer just show up on the court or the field. We have to show up online too. I want to create, produce, direct and own content. That’s the future.”