Aren't only amateurs supposed compete in the Olympics?

Question

Aren't only amateurs supposed compete in the Olympics?

Answer 1

That rule was eliminated for the 1992 Olympics, as there were too many athletes who were sponsored and maintained by their governments, who paid them a lot of money to represent them, therefore not being amateur anymore.

The only sport where still only amateurs are allowed to compete is boxing, for no other reason than the safety of the participants, as the amateur and the pro style are very different.

Answer 2

That has gone as athlete couldn't live on nothing,  with having to take time off work. If you get paid $1 it was considered pro.  So you would not have any ads with Olympian in them if that was still the case.

Answer 3

That was the original idea, but it has been changed for a number of years now.   One problem before, was that some countries such as the Soviet Union entered people that the rest of the world considered professionals, but they called them amateurs.

Answer 4

Yea a big problem was the Soviets sending an 'amateur' team that wasn't amateur. Hockey is a good example, where their teams were as good as any NHL team in the 70s and 80s. The Cubans still do this for boxing and baseball.

The rule has been gone for a while now. It is still in effect for boxing, wrestling and figure skating though for different reasons. Boxing and wrestling because no pro would want to, and figure skating because a pro is retired from competition.

Most of the team sports wouldn't really survive without the pros. hockey, basketball, water polo, volleyball and many more are filled with pro players from North America and Europe. It has also helped tennis and beach volleyball become Olympic sports.

Answer 5

At one point this was the idea, but it may surprise  everybody here that actually Fencing was one of the few sports prior to the 1980's that allowed professionals as Baron Pierre de Coubertin , specifically stated that professional fencers called masters could compete in the 1896 Olympics.

By the 1980's everybody could see only amateurs could compete was a farce as the USSR , East Germany, Cuba and many of the other Eastern Bloc nations had pro amateurs with Katarina Witt being a perfect example. Other countries also created permanent Olympic athlete systems through the police or military that allowed athletes to train full time with out worry. In some cases governments also paid money to athletes to remain amateurs.

Professionals where allowed to start coming into the Olympics in the 1980's whether it was in Athletics with endorsement deals or the return of Tennis in 1988 after last being in the Olympics in  1924. The reason why Tennis was drooped after 1924 had to do with the fact that IOC couldn't agree on if Tennis was a true amateur sport or a pro sport since players begun to receive gifts and money was exchanged under the table with secret hand shakes. Steffi Graf won gold for the ladies singles.

Football (Soccer)  was another sport that faced this dilemma as it was not in the 1932 Olympics over the debate of pros. In 1984 it was decided that professionals that didn't play in FIFA World Cup could participate. From 1952 till 1988 Eastern Bloc Communist nations dominated the Olympic Football tournament with only France 1984 (due to a boycott by the USSR and its allies) breaking this hold.

Lastly it should be noted that the Ancient Greeks had no such system of what a pro and amateur athlete was as this was a 19th century mostly Victorian Aristocratic notion that sports should be pure and money tainted them. In fact it is worth noting that Ancient Greeks gave out all sorts of material awards from the City States that those winning athletes represented. Athletes during the Ancient games fully expected to win a valuable or prestigious prize as this was an important part of being an athlete.

Please read the REAL STORY OF THE Ancient Games to learn more.  

Answer 6

They're view is the opposite now.  The IOC wants professional to compete.  Baseball is being eliminated because MLB refuses to send their best..

Answer 7

They dropped that rule about 10 or 15 years ago.

Answer 8

Aren't Usain Bolt and Mike Phelps amateurs in the first place???