The average salary of a professional footballer in Australia is between $300k – $400k annually. Depending on the code of football, the top echelon of players can make between $700k and $1.5m, still nothing compared to US basketball, gridiron and baseball salaries which start at $1.5m. and can reach obscene heights of $40m.

So how are these salaries defined? It’s pretty much determined by market forces such as population, TV rights, sponsorship and popularity of the sport. Increasing participation too is important which plays into codes competing for market share, which leads to decisions such as the AFL’s expansion into the Gold Coast and Western Sydney as opposed to an AFL heartland like Tasmania . Increased participation = more sponsors = more $.

Like most Aussies I love watching the Olympics and I’ve often marvelled at the dedication and pain that these men and women put themselves through for little to no monetary gain. I recently heard from arguably our greatest ever cyclist Anna Meares, that the most she ever earned in a year from sponsorship was $40k. It came as a genuine shock to me.

Her story is one of the most  courageous and inspiring ever witnessed in world sport but evidently not enough to be marketed like a Jesse Fox or Steph Gilmore or paid like a very comfortable footballer who doesn’t need to work or study to exist.

So when I think about cost v reward with the Olympic sports, I’ve rated the top 5 that deserve to be paid like a professional footballer.

5. Swimming– Grant Hackett recently said recently on The Front Bar he would regularly complete 9km a day in the pool and eat 9 x times a day to maintain his fuel. Up and down a black line at 5am every day then returning in the afternoon for more of the same? No thanks.

4. Gymnastics – What on earth were these guys thinking? The rings? You’re kidding aren’t ya? 🙂 Surely a sadist was employed to construct these events? I can’t imagine what these men and women put themselves through to attain this level of body strength. They leave me on the edge of my seat every 4 x years.

3. Hockey – In year 9 at High School whilst playing my first and only game of hockey, a kid called Trevor Hill hit a ball head high and at maximum velocity. It whistled past my nose bringing to an end to any thoughts of playing for Australia. 🙂 I played footy for 20 x years but we didn’t wield sticks! Hockey players run like AFL midfielders, require tremendous skill and need to be bit crazy.

2. Marathon – I love the middle distance races up to 10k but the marathon is the killer. I’ve run one, extremely slow mind you, but I did finish and it was horrific. It really did take me to places in my head never ventured before. The Olympic level is nothing more than a 2 x hour sprint and the longer it goes the more I slink into the couch in domestic fatigue. 🙂 When you think of athletes with a screw loose, let’s just say the “belt doesn’t go through all the loops” with these guys and girls. 🙂

1. Water Polo – The Fremantle Dockers inaugural coach, Gerard Neesham, was a champion water polo player and he always said he brought water polo strategy to The Dockers and the AFL. I definitely saw some innovation on the field, but what he didn’t bring was kneeing opponents in the groin, drowning your opponent, swallowing gallons of chlorinated water, volunteering to tread water ceaselessly and elbowing your opponent in the head. Such fun.  🙂 This is nothing short of aquatic sado-masochism played by the toughest of athletes.

Some individuals from these sports can make a half decent living plying their skills internationally but they are few and far between. Adding complexity to sports like swimming and gymnastics is the room for error. I can’t imagine how tough it would be to train like an animal for 4 x years and miss out on a medal in the space of a minute, by hundredths of a second or in the case of a gymnast, a slightly awkward dismount.

As a nation we watched Ariane Titmus win gold today. She’s a humble champion and a great role model for young women following in the great tradition of female Olympic champions Australia has produced over the years.

She is extremely marketable and no doubt corporations at home will be scrambling to get her manager’s mobile. Whilst our Olympians are never going to earn footballer salaries let’s hope the marketers of Australia find ways to put the faces of many other Olympians on the front of cereal boxes and not just those of gold medal winners. They deserve to be rewarded for their sacrifices and the joy they bring to the Australian public every 4 x years.